Equester the sky

What on earth is "equester the sky?"

Photograph by Helena Lopes

Dear hopeful reader,

Last weekend I had only one plan: play video games. Forget about everything else. And I failed. Or rather, my body failed me. It decided to give me a massive headache on Friday night. And even on Monday, it still continued.

On Saturday, before it got intense, I did manage to “beta test” Diablo 4 with my husband. For someone who doesn’t like RPG games (except I do love the Baldur’s Gate franchise), I was immersed in the first act of the fourth installment. Maybe it’s the compelling cut scenes, maybe it’s the challenging gameplay, maybe feeling powerful rocks. I don’t know what it is exactly, but I look forward to playing it again with him when it releases.

We also got to watch Tetris, which you can stream on Apple TV+. It was an engrossing movie to watch. I don’t know how faithful it is to the real events. I imagine it may be somewhat exaggerated and sensational so it’s gripping for the audience. But, I commend them for casting mostly Russophones to play Russian characters. If anything, it’s progress.

Thanks to a new YouTube channel I follow, Metatron, I learned about the Kandake (which means “great woman”) Amanirenas. Queen Amanirenas ruled over the ancient Kingdom of Kush, or modern-day Sudan. She was also a warrior who fiercely and skillfully defended her kingdom against the Roman Empire. Her story and legacy are fascinating and widely unsung. Which makes me think of how there’s so much of our world and history yet to discover, so many stories still left to share.

In addition, I quit drinking matcha tea, which I was enjoying every day for the last half a year. Alas, as much as it was energizing me and making me feel content, it was affecting my health negatively in other ways. Particularly my bones started feeling more brittle and it became painful for me to walk. It can also interact with some prescription drugs and supplements. So if you drink matcha regularly, please be aware of the precautions. I’m sure drinking it once in a while is fine, but if you’re sensitive like me, be careful.

Now that I’m more clear-headed, I would say I didn’t not do anything last weekend. It wasn’t as enjoyed however. I slept a lot to make time pass faster, my head to get better quicker. And between my eyes opening and closing, I saw my cat by my legs. She was the best nap companion. And I dreamt. I forgot most of what I dreamt about, except…

I woke up with three words running through my mind on loop: equester the sky. Which is the odd title of this post. What on earth is even that? It’s what my subconscious self passed on to my awakened self. Ask it! All I knew is I didn’t know what this equester word was and that I needed to find out.

According to Latin Dictionary, equester is:

1. equestrian, mounted on horse

2. of/belonging to/consisting of horseman/cavalry

It’s an adjective, not a verb, which I hoped it would have been. Then to equester the sky maybe would have made some sense. If it were a verb, would it have meant to mount the sky? To ride the sky on horseback? To fly in the sky while wearing cavalry attire?

What my unconscious mind conveyed to me makes absolutely no sense. And yet, I find it rather alluring and imaginative. Maybe an s got sequestered from the word equester? Then sequester the sky would have meant to hide away the sky from others, or something along those lines? Was I subliminally told to soak up the sun, or hide from it?

Or, if we remove the word the, would equester sky mean the sky belonging to only knights, horsemen, les cavaliers? If you like the word combination of equester sky, please use it in your next poem. I would be delighted to read it.

I’ll never know what my mind dreamed up and meant to spit out. But because I forced myself to remember those three words awkwardly misplaced together and share it here with you all, I’ll try not to forget. After all, that may have been the most magical ‘happening’ in an otherwise miserable weekend.

Did you ever wake up with words running through your head? What were they? What do you think your subconscious was trying to tell you?

Last week I wrote about how to navigate the online submission process graciously, hopefully, and successfully. Sometime next week I’ll publish a post about how online publications can also treat writers and their contributors more fairly. Stay tuned!

Yours hopefully,

Nadia

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