Dreams and Shadows

chapter EIGHT

THE VEIL BETWEEN TWO WORLDS

An essay by Dr. Thaddeus Ray, Ph.D., from his book The Everything You Cannot See

Between the realm of the natural world and that of the supernatural is a veil, a thin gossamer web that muddles the vision of mortal man and keeps him from seeing what is going on all around him. It is a sort of one-way mirror, an energy that allows the beings of the other side to peer in and prey upon the ever-replicating resource that is man while simultaneously preventing man from really knowing what stalks him from the other side. Not everything beyond this veil is harmful. Most creatures are indifferent and care no more about us than you care about the squirrels living in the tree across the street. Yet they remain sheltered, far from prying eyes despite often being steps, if not inches, away.

Whether blessed with the ability to sense certain energies or touched by a madness that ignores the veil altogether, some people are immune to the ethereal strands that separate us from them. Those who can see are often diagnosed with schizophrenia or some form of psychosis, though it isn’t clear which comes first: the perception of the supernatural or a psychological break. Perhaps some people are just so far gone that they accept the existence of things everyone else subconsciously filters out. Maybe the sight of such things shatters the fragile human mind, for once you’ve accepted the existence of that which is clearly not there, nothing is impossible.

Anyone with an open mind can peer beyond, if even only for a moment. When your guard is down and the energies on the other side are strong, it is possible to almost see the other side. Moreover, certain substances, such as plants, mushrooms, and synthetic hallucinogens, have been known to weaken the mind’s grip on reality and allow a greater chance of seeing something beyond. While not a sure thing, it has been known to help enough that certain beings from the other side enjoy taking advantage of those under the influence.

Furthermore, it is possible for the beings of the other side to cross into our world, to appear in a manner that allows our minds to perceive them either as they are or as they wish us to believe them to be. Still others choose to enchant their victims with their own energy, like fairies and their glamour, to usher mortal men into their own nightmarish, quixotic realm. Fairies themselves have been known to steal away children in the night, bathe them in the glamour of a virginal spring-fed lake, and keep them living beyond the veil until they are old enough to know better.

No one is quite sure why the veil exists, whether it is a byproduct of the energies that make up supernatural beings, or an actual barrier put in place that one day might be broken through and overcome. Perhaps it is for our own good. Man fears what he does not understand, and everything else he first subverts, then controls or, ultimately, destroys.