On Saturday, my friends and I went on a day excursion to Santa Barbara, California. I have never been to Santa Barbara, but it definitely was a beautiful place. Five of us girls went to the Firestone vineyard, ate a wonderful catered lunch, drank Firestone wine, and pretty much sat around on this lush property. So I didn’t really know two of the girls that went on this excursion but while sipping on our wine, I got to know them a little better. Somehow, one of the girls, Michelle, starts talking about The Secret. Of course my ears perk up, and I soon find myself indulged into the conversation. We quickly bonded on our pure acknowledgment of the Law of Attraction—how it works for us constantly and for everyone else whether they know it or not. We mentioned to our friend that perhaps watching the movie would really open up her awareness. Michelle and I both commented how she has a positive outlook already but that it could be strengthened especially in the area of relationships. Basically, we said told her why just be positive and rich in career and academics when you can be positive in everything including relationships and men? I have to say that I too had a worthy vision of being a successful career-minded woman but failed to see a good relationship with a significant other. Until I felt I could see that in my life and treat myself well, I couldn’t meet any decent guys. Guys who were jerks would always come my way…only because I put out that signal. My mentality was that I wasn’t good enough for any guy. Anyways, I changed that through sheer will, and now I have a wonderful and caring boyfriend.
So what is this talk about a castle?
Well after the lovely afternoon wine, we went back to the car and headed home. Then the driver mentions that there is a castle somewhere up in these mountains that we were currently passing by. Of course I say, “Let’s go on an adventure!” Everyone else seemed to agree so we started heading up Painted Cave Road. There were no signs of a castle or actual signs saying ‘castle.’ We keep driving with our hopes high of seeing this castle that is supposedly in ruins. The story goes that this castle was built by this rich man for his beloved wife, but it unfortunately burnt down decades ago. Luckily, we stopped and asked a local about the castle. She informed us that it was up the road and to the right when the road “Y’s.” Then go up the road for about a mile and you’ll see an iron gate. Okay sure. This didn’t sound too hard. So off we went in search of this castle. We finally found a fork in the road, followed that, and parked our vehicle. We began to walk up this gravel path and lo and behold saw a fence. As we inched closer, it appeared to be an FAA radio tower center. Darn! Radio towers sure aren’t castle towers! Thus, we head back down the path feeling a bit disappointed. Nevertheless, our hopes lifted, and we told each other we aren’t going to give up. Now our friend’s boyfriend’s friend told us about this castle. And we believed the story. But seeing the FAA sign started producing doubts. I reminded Michelle what the Law of Attraction teaches us: to truly believe in what you want to see with unwavering faith. So unwavering faith we had, and we set out in the car once again on this narrow roadway winding up and down the mountain. A few miles of winding path, we finally came up to this area with a fence. Now this fence sure looked like iron. I mean it was rusted pretty badly. So we get out the car and start walking up this pathway. And this pathway was covered with trees, so collectively we thought the castle must be hidden. We keep walking, feeling the anticipation, and then suddenly one of the girls ahead starts to laugh. What’s so funny I wondered? Oh my. It was just another one of those radio control towers. In pure madness, I encroach upon the edge of a cliff and start yelling. “Where are you? Show me yourself castle!” I proclaimed. As some of the girls began to relinquish the idea of there being a castle, I just kept on proclaiming to the Universe out there that the castle does exist. Some of the girls were even saying that they had no idea what to visualize in the first place. That didn’t matter to me. I just told them that it will come to us. Finally, we got back into the car and made our final descent down the mountain. Was this the end of our castle adventure? How could it be the end if we didn’t even see the castle? As we drove back down the hill, I prayed to my subconscious. I told it to show me the way, the castle. Then I had an inspired thought. My inspired thought told me to look back at this very instant as we were going down the hill. So I turned my head back and saw an interesting collection of stones far away on a hill. Yet, I just knew that those weren’t stones but that those were the ruins of the castle. I told the driver to stop immediately. I pointed out to everyone that there on that hilltop faraway is the castle. Funny we never saw it on the way up, but as I prayed coming down, my intuition showed me the way. A couple girls didn’t believe it was the castle but I said it was. Then they took out their digital cameras so they could zoom in. And you know what? It was indeed the castle!
So the moral of the story is to believe. Believe, believe, and believe. Even when the doubts start to sink in, believe. And when it starts getting uncertain, PRAY! Pray to your higher self or subconscious or something, and you will be shown the way. I sure was shown the way to the castle. I am so glad I took this little adventure with my friends. It taught us that true, unwavering faith always prevails.
FYI, the castle is called Knapp’s castle, and it does exist!
