Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - An Elizabethan Garden Party (Premium)

Episode Date: August 25, 2021

This is a preview episode. Get the full episode, and many more, ad free, on our supporter's feed: https://getsleepy.com/support. An Elizabethan Garden Party Tonight, we make a long-anticipated return to the Library of Time. It's a library like no other, transporting us to bygone eras and untold tales of the past. On this occasion, we'll travel back to 16th century England and enjoy the splendour of a garden party hosted by the Queen herself. 😴  Sound design: nighttime ambiance, crickets 🌌🌛 Narrator: Abbe Opher About Get Sleepy Premium: Help support the podcast, and get: Monday and Wednesday night episodes (with zero ads) The exclusive Thursday night bonus episode Access to the entire back catalog (also ad-free) Premium sleep meditations, extra-long episodes and more! We'll love you forever. ❤️ Get a 7 day free trial, and join the Get Sleepy community here https://getsleepy.com/support. And thank you so, so much.  Tom, and the team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, Thomas here. You're listening to a preview episode. You can enjoy the entire story tonight by subscribing to our supporters' feed. There you'll get access to the entire back catalogue, bonus episodes, and more, and it's all completely ad-free. Click the link below to learn more and thank you so so much. Me and the team really appreciate your support. You are standing upon a smooth marble floor in front of a grand wooden door. Every inch of its dark frame displays a pattern or shape, skillfully carved into the rich walnut surface. You reach your hand towards it and trace the outline of fan shapes, semi-circles, and trace the outline of fan shapes, semi-circles, and the glossy vines that twist around its center panel.

The wood is smooth and cool to the touch, and though it's row of elegant roses, proudly displaying their petals, carved into the wood. The shape of the roses seems symbolic and comfortingly familiar, though you can't quite place where you might have seen it before. Below, in the centre panel, is a majestic domed crown, jutting out beyond the edge of the dark polished timber. It has an ethereal quality about it, furthered by the letters E and R embellished beneath it. Could these be the initials of the crown's great owner, you wonder? Captivated, you turn the polished brass handle of this enchanting door. It creaks open, leaving you standing at the entrance of a grand and opulent room.

Lancing around, you realise it's a library. And yet, it's almost cathedral-like in appearance, with thick stone columns reaching up to lofty heights. At the ceiling, they come together to form an intricate lattice above you. The room is brightened by many stained glass windows. They decorate the walls, creating a walls of moving colour upon the white marble floor. moving colour upon the white marble floor. Above your head, a garland of lit candles fills the room with its golden glow. Soon your attention is pulled towards a single golden plaque situated between two curving staircases.

Stepping towards it now, your footsteps resound across the smooth marble. Your pause before it, and read the inscription aloud. allowed. Welcome to the library of time. Only the most curious of souls can find this place. Each and every book connects to a different time and place. While in the past, you will neither be seen nor heard. You cannot change the past after all. You can only learn from it, and learn you shall. Filled with a sense of curiosity and wonder, you turn to walk upstairs. Your hand follows the line of the smooth wooden mannestor as you do. When you reach the second floor, you find it's lined with tall standing shells crafted from the same rich water as the library door. Each one is tightly packed with books of every ilk. You browse

the bookshelves until your eyes linger upon the ruby red cover of a thick antique hard bag. There isn't any title, just a year embroidered in gold upon its spine. 1569. Like the door before it, the book seems to vibrate beneath your touch. You hold it in your hands as you head over to an area behind the bookshelves. Here you find a sloping city, upholstered in a deep, velvety red and fastened with round, golden studs. On a wooden table beside you, a similarly gold candle-arbor provides all the warmth and light you require. Reclining upon the luxuriously soft seat, you open the cover, visible in the soft glow of the candlelight. The ancient work has a charming and familiar

scent and its binding is smooth. You find yourself eager to soak up its knowledge and so you trace your fingers between the creamy pages of parchment and begin to read. Queen Elizabeth I ruled England from 1558 to 1603. The daughter of Henry VIII by his second wife Ann-Balynne, she was just 25 years old when she ascended to power. The last in line of Tudor rulers, her reign was perhaps most impressive, especially in light of the general uncertainty at the time as to whether a woman was even fit to rule. Indeed, Elizabeth proved that she was more than capable. Like many crowned before and after, Elizabeth believed herself divinely appointed to the throne. Where she stands out, however, is in the love and affection that she had for her subjects, something which she treasured as much as her faith.

Famously, the Queen never wed, despite pressure to do so throughout her reign, instead declaring that she was married to England. you