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We were trading and negotiating establishing permanent economic connections. We moved on at night. When it was rather stormy, we preferred to moor at any settlement and organize evenings of recreation with dancing for the local youths. Such kind of recreation has very rare lately as all kinds of clubs and Houses of Culture have become very dilapidated.
Cultural and educational work is almost neglected there.
Sometimes we were floating for 24 hours without stopping as there were no settlements, only taiga (virgin forest) all over. The only means of communication for many, many kilometers around was the river. At that time it did not occur to me since it was outside my province, that at one of those kilometers fortune had prepared for me a meeting which would change my life completely. Here at a tiny village consisting of just a couple of small houses, far removed from the nearest big settlement which was hundreds of kilometers away, I ordered the leading ship to be moored to the bank. I planned to dock there for three hours, just to let my people relax while walking around the village.
At the same time it was an opportunity for the native population to buy some goods from us and in exchange to purchase fish and wild herbs at a low price. While there, two local old men addressed me as the leader of the caravan with a very strange request. One of them looked older than the other. The older one was quiet and the younger one started to speak. He tried to convince me to lend them at least 50 men from the crew. I should like to mention that our crew consisted of only 65 people.
They proposed to lead us into the taiga, 25 kilometers away from the riverbank where we were docking. They wanted to cut down, what he called, a Ringing Cedar. The cedar, according to his estimations was almost 40 meters high. He suggested that we saw the tree 'into pieces so it would be possible to carry it by hand to the mother ship. Then they wanted us to cut those pieces into smaller ones so each of us could take a piece for ourselves and a few more to give to our relatives, friends and anybody who would like to receive them as a gift. The old man said that the cedar was not an ordinary one.
A piece of it was to be carried as a pendant on a string. Moreover, while putting it on the chest it was necessary to stand barefooted on grass, pressing it to one's naked chest with the left palm. In a minute one would feel a very pleasant warmth coming from the cedar piece, then one would experience a sensation of a light flash flowing through the body.
On occasion, when one felt the desire, it was recommended to rub it with the finger tips on that side of the cedar piece which was not touching the body. While polishing it, one should hold the piece by pressing the thumbs to the opposite side which does not face the body.
In three months the owner of the Ringing Cedar piece will feel considerable improvement in one's health, and may experience healing from many diseases.
According to his affirmation that was the least of it. Most important was the fact that the owner of such a piece of cedar would become more kind, more successful and more talented.
At that time I did not know much about the healing power of cedar, but its abilities sounded to me absolutely unrealistic.
Then I told the old men that over there on “the big land” (the industrial areas with big cities) the women preferred to decorate themselves with gold and silver jewelry to attract the attention of other people.
Trying to avoid argument and paying respect to their age, I said,
While saying this he hurriedly unbuttoned his worn down jacket and shirt and showed something which was hanging on his chest. It was a round, protuberance or, rather, an oval thing. There was a fancy, inconspicuous design on it in violet, crimson and reddish brown. The fibers of wood looked like tiny brooks. I am not an expert on works of art, though I have visited a variety of galleries and museums.
The world famous masterpieces did not excite me as much as this fascinating object hanging on the old man's chest. It touched my feelings and emotions much more strongly than my visit to the famous Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.
I did not believe his answer at that moment.
He looked not more than seventy five or so. He did not pay any attention to my doubts. The old man, being a bit excited, started to convince me that a piece of cedar would look as beautiful on anyone in three years only.
Eventually it would get better and better, especially on women. The body of the owner would produce a wonderful aroma, incomparable to any perfume created by man. I was aware that the scent which was emanating from both men was very pleasant indeed. Even though I am a smoker yet I could smell it. They say that the smoker's sense of smell is usually weaker. I also noticed that his vocabulary differed from those of the native population.
The phrases and word combinations he used were certainly not characteristic of the inhabitants of the far North. Some of these are still reverberating in my ears, even the melody and intonation.
The old man spoke like this:
The old man had been speaking for a long time, his voice filled with a quiet assurance.
When he became excited, he polished his piece of cedar with his finger tips very quickly, as if he were playing a musical instrument. It was pretty cold; a fresh wind was blowing from the river, but his worn jacket and shirt were still unbuttoned.
A member of our firm, Lidiya Petrovna, came down and told us that the crew was ready to leave and they were waiting for me. So I had to say “Good bye” to the strange old men and went on board. It was impossible for me to fulfill their request: three days' delay would cost us great losses. Everything I had been told by those men I took as an extreme superstition or as one of the local myths.
The next day during our business planning meeting I noticed that Lidiya Petrovna was rubbing a piece of cedar hanging on her chest. Later on she told me that after I had left she saw that the old man I was talking with looked very confused and unhappy while watching me leave.
Then he addressed his companion speaking very excitedly,
The one who looked older told him,
I recalled that when our motor boat was casting off, I could see the
old man waving his hand. Then all of a sudden he sat down on the
grass. After a while I looked at them again through binoculars. The
old man was sill sitting on the grass. His shoulders were
shuddering... The one who was older was bending over him soothing
his head.
Memory was bringing me again and again to my meeting with the strange old men and the subject of our discussion. Upon my request friends and family members supplied me with all kinds of literature on cedar. By comparing all the reading I became more and more amazed.
Eventually I started to believe everything the old men had told me.
The books on folk medicine tell much about the cedar's healing power. Everything, starting with the needle leaves to its bark has highly efficient healing qualities. That was what the books said repeatedly. They reported that the texture of cedar wood looks very beautiful and it is widely used by craftsmen. I learned that it is good for furniture. It is also used for the resonance boards of musical instruments. The cedar's conifer has highly fitocidic properties and the ability to disinfect environmental air.
The cedar
timber has a special, very pleasant balsamic flavor. If you put a
small piece of cedar wood in a house, it will keep moths away.
He came to
Moscow in 1907 when he was already 50 years of age. He startled the
royal family, where he was heartily welcomed, because of his
prophecies; He was sexually involved with many distinguished ladies.
Those who were trying to kill him were shocked by the fact that
having been hit by many bullets, he was still alive. His vitality
was amazing. The secret was that he had been brought up in the
region where cedar grows and he had been fed on cedar nuts.
Today, the several times world and Olympic champion in wrestling Alexander Karelin, currently unbeatable, is also a Siberian, again from the region where Siberian cedar grows. The strong man has eaten cedar nuts all his life.
Is this by chance?
In Russia people usually wish you a “Siberian health”. I am just giving you the facts which one can find in press issues or popular science literature or what living witnesses can prove. One such witness is the previously mentioned Lidiya Petrovna, who had received the piece of Ringing Cedar wood from the old man. She is thirty six now, married, a mother of two children.
Her colleagues who are in touch with her
have noticed the great changes which have happened to her. She has
become more benevolent and smiles more often. Her husband, whom I
know also, has told me that lately they have more mutual
understandings. By the way, he mentioned that his wife had even
become younger looking and has stimulated more feelings in him, and,
to add to it, more respect and even love had appeared in their
relationship.
The third book of Moses in the Old Testament teaches how to heal people and disinfect houses with cedar,
When I compared all the facts and information collected from
different sources, the world's wonders fade compared to this one.
Namely that the great mysteries which keep exciting human minds seem
insignificant compared to the mystery of a Ringing Cedar.
He asked King Hiram a favor:
What kind of people were they? What kind of secrets did they know?
I've heard that even now in the remote villages, deep in the taiga there are old men who somehow can choose cedar trees for construction purposes. But at that time, more than two thousand years ago, I believe, everybody must have known this. However, even at that time very special people were required for construction work with cedar.
The temple was constructed; they started inauguration services and see what happened:
What kind of a cloud was it? How and from where did it enter the
temple? What did it represent? Was it an energy? A spirit? What kind
of phenomenon was it and how was it interconnected with cedar?
The Bible reads:
Which means, that the Siberian one wins again!
Why is this
not more widely known? The Old Testament, the science of the
previous century and modern texts are of the same opinion about
cedar, no contradictions exist!
Specifically what did our forefathers know about cedar? Has its properties and actions been hidden till now? Could it be nothing? Does it belong to so called “lost knowledge”? What do the old people know about it?
Then suddenly something came to the surface of my
memory, the age old event which produced shivering all over my body,
though, at that time, I did not give any meaning to it.
He had a letter of recommendation from our government.
Some of the entrepreneurs and the members of the staff from the
regional executive committee were present at the meeting. The
western businessman looked like “a white shark”. He had oriental
features. He was wearing a turban, his fingers were decorated with
expensive rings.
Then all of a sudden he said,
While he was saying it, some kind of tension overwhelmed him, his sharp eyes stared, examining the reaction of those present.
I have remembered this situation very well because even at that time I was surprised, thinking to myself,
After the meeting was over the lady interpreter from Moscow
who was accompanying him came up to me and told me that he would
like to talk to me.
After that I turned to a good friend of mine who works at the Novosibirsk Institute of Potrebcooperatsiya (consumer cooperation) K. Rakunov. I purchased cedar nuts, financed the labor expenses and in the institute laboratory they produced one hundred kilograms of cedar nut oil. I also hired people who have discovered some interesting papers in the archive documents, which revealed that in pre-Revolutionary Russia and for a while after, there was an organization in Siberia under the name of Siberian Cooperator.
The members of this coop were trading all kinds of oil
including cedar nut oil. They had representatives in Khabarovsk,
London and New York. They had a lot of money in Western banks. After
the revolution the organization fell apart and many of its former
members left Russia.
The cedar oil's healing properties have no comparison.
Moreover, they recommended to us “not even to stick our nose in it” as if it is not our business. They are trying to erase these things from our memory... and they have managed to do it!
Somehow this realization made me so angry.
I decided to repeat the expedition along the Ob river to
the North, using for this purpose only the leading motor boat
Patrice Lumumba. I loaded the holds with different goods. The movie
hall was modified as a store. I had to employ new people. For some
reason I did not want to take people from our company. While I was
distracted from my regular business, the financial situation got
worse.
I
started to call to my office some of the people from the crew,
talked to them about the forthcoming campaign into the taiga. Some
of them were ready to go even for free. Others asked big amounts of
money as the journey into the taiga had not been commissioned by the
agreement which they had signed. Of course there was a great
difference between staying at the comfortable motor boat and hiking
into the taiga for 25 kilometers and carrying luggage on one's back.
I was not going to sell cedar, as the old man had said that it was necessary to give it as a gift. Moreover, the most important thing for me was not the Ringing Cedar itself but the secret of producing not just cedar oil but the healing one from regular cedar.
Generally speaking, I was interested in any kind of information on this issue. Eventually, with the help of information from the security guards I became convinced that somebody was watching me. Especially when I came off board, though their goal was uncertain. Who was behind those who were watching me? I thought hard and decided to avoid doubts and mistakes.
The best way was to outwit all of them.
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