#Melissa Ephesian

[leiascully]

X-Files OctoberFicFest Day 16: The Field Where I Died

Cut for canon abuse/murder/child death

Scully didn’t believe in past lives or hypnosis or destiny. She hoped that Melissa Riedal-Ephesian hadn’t either—there was no timeline in which she deserved the fate she had drawn. Scully felt none of the echoes Mulder claimed to sense when she looked at Melissa or the Seven Stars compound or the photographs he’d found. The resemblance was slightly uncanny, but the photograph was blurry. The imagination enhanced the line of the jaw, the slope of the nose into something recognizable.

If they were all entangled, she felt sorry for the woman. Mulder’s mesmerized recitation had relegated Scully firmly to the best supporting actress role: sergeant, first mate, partner. Melissa, as Mulder’s true love, faced tragedy after tragedy, just as she had in this life. Samantha too seemed doomed to suffer in these storylines. Scully couldn’t countenance that. Surely their souls deserved peace in some eras.

Besides, if past lives were real, Melissa Riedal wasn’t the Melissa her soul was tethered to. There wasn’t a timeline in which Mulder could let go of his sister, and that was just as true for her.

Mulder accepted the theory of Melissa’s incarnations with an easy grace despite Melissa’s own skepticism. Whether his memories had been drawn out of the deep well of his soul or fabricated by his vivid imagination, Scully couldn’t say and Melissa refused to consider. He believed the narrative that they’d been in love, when they’d been Sarah Kavanaugh and Sullivan Biddle. He believed she had been his soul mate. Soul mates couldn’t be relegated to the past tense, to past lives. Soul mates were eternal.

And if she’d thought, from time to time, that there might be glints of more between herself and Mulder, perhaps she’d been mistaken. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d confused friendship for something more. Never the bride, or even the bridesmaid—she might be a right hand, but her left remained unadorned.

What she and Mulder had was deep and meaningful. It was trust. It was an absolute faith in each other despite their many points of disagreement. It didn’t have to be romantic to be love. Would it have changed the way they looked at each other, the depth of their bond in this life? She wasn’t sure. Her connection with Mulder was unique in her experience. She couldn’t imagine feeling any differently about him, for better or for worse.

She felt petty, spending any time at all thinking about past lives when there were present lives at stake. Children’s lives, women’s lives: a whole community drawn in by a charismatic criminal. They had come for a covenant and been given false promises. The victims were her priority.

In the end, the FBI’s best efforts weren’t good enough. Bureaucracy prevailed. The conflict staggered to its inevitable unhappy conclusion. Melissa died. They all died.

It was been a long and difficult afternoon coordinating the removal of the bodies. At least she’d been spared the need to conduct autopsies: the cause of death was clear enough to be established by local MEs. Mulder hadn’t demanded she conduct an autopsy on Melissa Riedal. She hadn’t had to zip the children into body bags. Still, her body ached and there was a dull throb between her eyes.

She found Mulder in the field, staring out across the ridge, the two tattered photographs in his hands. She took them from him gently. He gazed at her, dazed, as if she were a stranger.

“We’ll have to return these to the local archives for restoration,” she said. “I plan to have copies made for the file, to corroborate your testimony under hypnosis.” She watched him. “I could have copies made for you as well.”

He looked back out over the long grass. “She said she wanted to believe.”

“I know.”

“It made her want to die. She’d already given up.”

“I know.”

Tears rolled down his face. She drew his head down to her shoulder and let him weep for all the lives he couldn’t save. She wished she could cry. Her headache built, but her eyes were dry. She held him, in the field where he believed he’d died, and wondered how many bones rested under the soil, how many souls would be weighed against their own.

[agathabridgerton]

“I was here. As were you. This is the field where I watched you die.”

“The Field Where I Died,” perhaps more than any episode from the fourth season, is one that fans either loved or hated. Loved because it was, as someone aptly put it, a poetic departure from the norm, or hated for its contradicting the mythology and the vocal fanbase of a yet-to-blossom Mulder and Scully relationship.

Many rank this among the lesser of the show’s efforts, but this reaction is exaggerated. There is some beautiful writing to be found here from James Wong and Glen Morgan, two of the show’s writers who spear-headed the series’ character development department more than once with fan favorites like “Beyond the Sea” and “One Breath.” This particular episode does not serve the same function per se, but maintains a similar emotional momentum as Mulder confronts his past lives and reencounters the soulmate he lost, Kristin Cloke’s Melissa Ephesian, a member of a suicidal religious sect.

One of the strengths of this episode is its memorable acting on the part of Cloke, a talent Morgan and Wong had and would continue to work with on other shows such as Millennium. Though the portrayal of a dissociative identity disorder sufferer is largely exaggerated for spectacle’s sake, Cloke is dynamic and charged in her multiple roles. Without a suspenseful plot for support, her acting manages to drive the episode from start to finish.

There is a distinct lack of an “X-Files” feel right from the get-go, calling into question why Mulder and Scully were dispatched to investigate Ephesian’s cult in the first place. Other inconsistencies have already been noted, namely the impossibility of the Cigarette-Smoking Man living in WWII as a Nazi soldier, and that Melissa was insinuated to be the soulmate of Mulder rather than Scully, a revelation that blatantly opposes the events that unraveled in later seasons.

“The Field Where I Died” is not a great episode, nor is it an ideal representative of the show’s usual motif. It also tends to drag a bit near the end of its second act. This is an episode best recommended to be viewed outside of the series’ over-arching continuity, with enough journeyman acting to keep it fresh and some insightful character moments from Mulder and Scully.

— DWilliams1089’s review on IMDb on September 9th, 2010

[all-eyes-lead-to-the-truth]

All Eyes Lead to the Truth | Season Four Master Post

Season four is one of the most beloved seasons of The X-Files, and we had a lot of fun exploring the background characters that helped make it so special!

Check out this thread to see all the characters we got to meet this season!

Herrenvolk (4x01) | X

No one would remember him, and if they did, they would struggle to remember a name they were never told. The memory of his existence would remain occluded by the shadows he lived in.

Home (4x02) | Sheriff Andy Taylor

For protection, his father had said, as he pressed the unfamiliar cold metal into Taylor’s warm hand. To keep your family safe.

To keep your home safe.

He shuts the drawer. He isn’t ready for this reality, not now. Not yet.

Teliko (4x03) | Special Agent Sean Pendrell

With them, it was never something simple. It was a computer chip so fragile he could barely study it. It was a complex string of numbers and letters tracking a smallpox vaccination program for reasons he couldn’t even begin to fathom.

This was what he went to school for.

Unruhe (4x04) | Gerry Schnauz

Gerry knew she needed his help the moment they met. There was a howler inside of her head — a black mass invading her body and mind.

The Field Where I Died (4x05) | Melissa Rydell Ephesian

Melissa struggled with the idea of reincarnation, but dared not show it. And as it turned out, a broken link in the chain of her faith led to more broken links.

When she first saw Vernon hurt a child, the chain shattered.

Sanguinarium (4x06) | Dr. Theresa Shannon

The face on the computer had looked just like Jack, but that had to be impossible. The science of surgery hadn’t come that far. To spread the eyes further apart, change features completely… and besides, she knows him. Knows the person he is…

Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man (4x07) | Albert M. Godwinkle

All Albert M. Godwinkle wants today is to read a halfway decent manuscript that puts a smile on his disgruntled face. Today is not that day.

Tunguska (4x08) | Alex Krycek

If looks could kill, Alex would be a dead man. But he thrives off this, off making Mulder squirm. It’s just so fucking easy.

Terma (4x09) | Senator Albert Sorenson

He was a staunch proponent of holding insubordinate witnesses in contempt when the court was not being respected, and no one, not even a government employee, was immune to that.

Paper Hearts (4x10) | Addie Sparks

The little girl he loves is gone, and she is never coming back.

Just like me.

El Mundo Gira (4x11) | Migrant Worker

At the simple mention of El Chupacabra, the shack erupted in a cacophony of worry, as if merely saying the name might summon the beast.

Leonard Betts (4x12) | Michele Wilkes

Even through the panic she felt screaming through her that nothing about this was okay, she felt a moment of relief wash over her. Maybe it had all been a dream. Maybe her partner hadn’t died while she was at the wheel.

Never Again (4x13) | Ed Jerse

Deadbeat. Loser. Failure.

He’s heard it all, and he has had enough. No one humiliates Ed Jerse anymore. No, not now. Never again.

Memento Mori (4x14) | Kurt Crawford

What is destined for a creature borne of fluid and test tubes, guided by the hands of cruel men?

Kaddish (4x15) | Ariel Luria

Someone else’s hatred had taken her true love away. Just like that, in an instant, like it was nothing. But it was not hatred that led her to the gravesite that stormy night.

Unrequited (4x16) | Special Agent Kent Hill

Hill slides in his earpiece, watching as their eyes lock. His wife would call it eavesdropping, but as he steps closer, tilting his head just right to better hear their hushed voices, Hill simply calls it satisfying a long-standing curiosity.

Tempus Fugit (4x17) | Bartender

The man tried to fluff the pink ball back into shape after presumably squashing it in his pocket. “The woman I came in with— it’s her birthday, and she loves these things. I was wondering if there was any way you could ask someone in the back to put it on a plate and bring it out to her?”

Max (4x18) | Sharon Graffia

Sharon Graffia isn’t a liar. She’d only done what she needed to in order for people to believe her. All she’s ever wanted was someone to believe her.

Synchrony (4x19) | Jason Nichols

Naïveté and a complete lack of understanding of the consequences of their work had been their downfall. But how could they have known?

Small Potatoes (4x20) | Eddie Van Blundht

It didn’t take him long to realize he’d initially misread the situation when he saw them at the clinic. Based on the look Dana Scully shot him when he tried to hold her hand at the airport, he knew he was navigating territory Fox Mulder had yet to conquer.

Zero Sum (4x21) | Billy

He slowly twisted his neck to the right, and was horrified by the sight before him. In the next bed over was David from his class, his face covered in gross red bumps. He looked dead.

Billy didn’t know what else to do. He started crying.

Elegy (4x22) | Lauren Heller

She had an exam in the morning. Her mother’s birthday was the following weekend. She had plans.

Demons (4x23) | Amy Cassandra

As she speaks, the deep wound in her skull throbs, reminding her that that was true, until weeks ago when she’d traded the nightmare of one penetrating drill with the reality of another.

Gesthemane (4x24) | Father McCue

Her faith had come from God, yes… but it had also come from another, less expected source. Perhaps it still did.

Stay tuned for more perspectives coming in Season Five!

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

We spend so much time deliberating and chatting about who to use in a given episode or where certain characters would be best utilized in the series, and we'd love to hear any opinions or predictions you might have! Do you have a favorite minor character? What episodes do you think would be best for our favorite recurring characters? Your feedback is one of the most enjoyable parts of this project (and sometimes hearing other perspectives can help inform the decisions we have to make). - @admiralty-xfd, @fridaysat9, @monikafilefan, and @gaycrouton

[hollywoodumc-harmonytolucalake]

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Friday, March 8th

Ephesians 2:1-10

Written by Melissa Perrigo

#lentendevotional

[wutbju]

Daniel Kenneth Diehl (1940 – 2023) was born in Vinton, Iowa, on January 31, 1940, to Reverend Chester and Alice (Dieken) Diehl.  In 1947 Chester became the pastor of Glenwood Bible Church, and the family moved to Glenwood, Illinois.  As a young boy Danny heard his father talk about God’s gift of salvation, and he put his faith in Jesus Christ.  He spent his childhood helping on his relatives’ farms, picking strawberries in the family garden, and practicing the piano and trumpet.  In his teens, he became the captain of Glenwood’s Youth for Christ Bible quiz team; their championship quiz on the book of Ephesians was held in Torrey-Gray Auditorium and aired on WMBI during Moody’s Founder’s Week. 

Danny attended Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina, graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in 1963 and a Master’s Degree in 1965.  During his time at the university, he toured the Midwest with a brass ensemble group known as the King’s Karions.  After graduating from college, Danny took a job at U.S. Steel and assisted his father with the music/youth ministries at Beach Community Bible Church in Beach Park, Illinois.  He would often play the trumpet for youth rallies held at nearby churches, and at one of these events, Danny met Nancy Taborsky; they were married on August 9, 1969.

The newly married couple soon realized that God was calling them to a ministry at Indian Hill Bible Church in Ingleside, Illinois, where they spent the next 50 years serving the God they loved.  Pastor Danny led music, played piano and trumpet, conducted choirs, coached Bible quiz teams, worked with the youth ministry and Awana programs, and assisted with the upkeep of the building – all while working in carpentry/maintenance at Zion Benton-Township High School.

Danny also enjoyed woodworking, gardening, sharing tomatoes and cucumbers with friends and neighbors, playing ping pong, watching The Andy Griffith show, and eating at In and Out Burger!

Danny went home to be with his Lord and Savior on January 5, 2023.  He was preceded in death by his wife Nancy, his parents, and his sister Evangeline Willeman.  He is survived by four daughters: Melissa (Scott) Morrison, Jennifer (Jin) Sim, Carrie Diehl, Rebecca (Nathan) Parsons; 8 grandchildren (Collin, Samantha, Lauren, Ella, Oliver, Gretta, Logan, Kensi); his brother-in-law and sister-in-law (Randy and Patty Hough) and 6 nieces and nephews: Linda (Gene) Correa, Larry (Annie) Willeman, Lee (Lucie) Willeman, Lori (John) Stinnett, Emily Hough, and Hannah Hough.

A celebration of life service will be held on Saturday, January 14, 2023, at 3:00pm, at Indian Hill Bible Church, 36133 N. Fairfield Road, Ingleside, IL.  After the service, guests are invited to join the family for dinner in the Fellowship Hall.  In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Indian Hill Bible Church, AWANA Children's Ministry. 

Thank you for being a blessing in our father's life. We are so grateful to the LORD for his faithful testimony and for the kindness of all of you.

"Well done, good and faithful servant... enter into the joy of your Lord." Matthew 25:21

Arrangements entrusted to Sambrano Funeral & Cremation, Gurnee, IL.  Please sign the guestbook at LauraSambranoFunerals.com; 847-571-7719.

[ibringyouasong89]

I think, if anything, Scully is being half serious and half joking. Half serious because, if started talking the way he usually rants in front of her, TLG, or Skinner, yeah, he’d be committed and it’s scary for both her and him (that they are consciously agreeing to that thought, mentally and emotionally, is “lksjdflksdjfksdjfjsdlfkjds”). I think there’s also the part where Mulder is also being half serious and half joking about that possibility and Scully can meet him at both sides of that, mentally and emotionally. Mulder, as usual, mixes seriousness and vulnerability with humor to deflect, but also to present his vulnerabilities (to Scully) in a non-defensive way...humor softens him. Scully, instinctively, understands that, and so she can quirk a small grin on pursed lips when agreeing with such a statement. And that’s what makes them, and their dynamic, so damn special - despite what CC and those damn writers would try and have us believe, Scully is Mulder’s REAL soulmate; the half that doesn’t complete him (nobody is REALLY incomplete without another person, however romantic and repetitive that particular message society has programmed into us via Hollywood, with their rom-coms and epic love stories, or the music industry or even through marketing), but compliments him and makes him understand himself, and the world, better. She makes him want to BE better and as much as Mulder could’ve gotten swept up by the romantic notion of Melissa Ephesian being a potential soulmate being reincarnated to briefly meet in passing in this life, it’s pretty much a sure thing that it would’ve never worked out and that her ties to him were exactly where they belonged - in the past, in a different life (and even then Scully was dying right there next to him, as his Lieutenant) and that for him to grow and become a stronger individual, and a better version of himself, he had to be with Scully; full stop.  Plus, as anyone else will tell you that is an avid fan of the show, there are a lot of issues with Mulder’s past life regression and the people he names as having contact with throughout those lifetimes, that don’t line up with specific timelines and events. Which, in hindsight, the writers might’ve done on purpose - in the hypnosis session with Dr. Werber - in order to highlight: One, Mulder’s romantic whimsy and the conscious suggestions which could’ve triggered these false past life memories or Two, that Dr. Werber was working for “Them” and was, in some way or another, planting false memories into Mulder’s mind so as to keep him from leaving the game of cloak and dagger that The Consortium was playing with him and his life. Very cat and mouse as usual and hard to prove...but in all honestly, if either theory were to be confirmed to be true, or even both to be correct simultaneously, I would not be surprised. 

lksjdflksdjflksdjfljsdlfkjds

[neopuff]

my favorite x-files episodes (in no particular order)

4x05 - The Field Where I Died

[baronessblixen]

So I just read your Antarctica angsty fic and saw you said you wanted to keep doing more angst. I’ve been craving a The Field Where I Died fic I looked up random angst dialog and came across ‘What are you trying to say?’ Super vague but a place to start! Happy fictober!!!

Thank you so much for the prompt! I hope I made it angsty 😁

Fictober Day 4 | Tagging @today-in-fic @xffictober2022 | Wc: 1804

Dreams of the Past

The first few times he dreams about Scully, he ignores it. He doesn’t remember what they’re about, is only left with a lingering feeling. It fades quickly every time and makes room for everyday life, for what happens in daylight. Until one night when he dreams of her screaming.

She’s half sitting, half lying on a bed, being tended by strangers while Mulder stands in the doorway, grappled by fear. He watches Scully, still screeching, being told to push! push! but no matter how hard she tries, there’s no baby. There should be a baby, he realizes. Her stomach is protruding, bigger than he ever thought possible. They’re having a baby. His heart swells before it breaks into pieces.

“We’re losing her,” someone says. “What else can we do? What can we do?”

“There’s nothing we can do,” a man says, stepping away from Scully, who is only whimpering in agony now. “She will die.”

“No!” This time it’s Mulder who screams. A moment later, he finds himself in his bed, panting and sweating. Just a dream. It was just a dream. A nightmare. His ears are ringing and he can still see Scully clear as a picture, framed by dim candlelight, trying to birth their child. Mulder wraps his arms around himself, feeling the loss of the child, of his beloved wife. Scully. He reminds himself that it wasn’t real. That all he has to do is pick up the phone and call Scully to hear her voice. He knows she’d call him crazy and for once, she’d be right. Thinking about Scully calms him enough to lie back down. It’s just after 2 am, far too early to stay awake.

Not once since the Ephesian case a couple of weeks ago has he dreamed about Melissa Riedal. Up until now, he hasn’t even thought about her. Instead, Scully has been invading his dreams. He wishes he could remember the rest of them. He wants to know if all of them have been this devastating. Is he losing her in every dream he’s had? In every life they’ve lived? He shudders thinking about it. Closing his eyes, he wills himself to relax. As much as he doesn’t want to relive the moment – losing her – he wants to keep going. He wants to see what else his mind has to offer him. After all, he’s no stranger to pain.

It doesn’t take him long to fall back asleep. Once, as a student, he tried to get into lucid dreaming, hoping it might help him make progress in finding Samantha. Then he met Phoebe and everything went to hell. Including his dreams and the rest of his sanity. It has been years since he’s last tried it and while he’s aware that he’s fast asleep and dreaming, there’s nothing he can do.

He takes in his surroundings, the sparsely decorated apartment, the lack of TV, the metallic drumming of a radio in another room. He walks around, trying to find clues if he – his past self – lives here. There’s an eeriness in the air, alerting him to be careful. He stops in front of a room, the door closed. That’s where the music is coming from, he realizes. It’s an old tune, but he recognizes its melody. This must be the 1930s or 40s. His stomach plummets before he opens the door. His eyes land on her body on the bed, still and pale. Her lips are parted slightly as if she had tried to say something before death took her.

He sits up in bed, gasping for air. Not again. Not Scully. Her face was so devoid of color, of everything that makes her the woman he… but it was her. He knows it was her. He no longer cares that it’s the middle of the night. He needs to see Scully. Needs to know what she’s thinking. He needs to know she’s okay.

It’s just after 4 am when he gets to her apartment. He considers using his key, but he doesn’t want to freak Scully out. No more than him showing up here in the middle of the night will do anyway. He should have called, he thinks, as he gently raps on her door. There’s shuffling on the other side of it before Scully opens the door. He’s never been so happy to see her. Her hair is sleep-ruffled and her pajama crooked, but she’s never looked more beautiful to him.

“Mulder, what time is it?”

“Late. Or early, however you want to look at it.”

“What happened?” She asks stifling a yawn. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“I’m okay,” he says truthfully, smiling at her. At least physically he is and he doesn’t want to talk about his dreams out here in front of her apartment. “Can I come in? I don’t want to wake your neighbors too.”

“Of course. Come on in.” He follows her inside, taking off his coat and shoes, while she walks into the kitchen.

“Do you want coffee? I think I’m going to make coffee,” she says, yawning again. Mulder watches her, amazed at how normal everything is. She’s moving around her kitchen barefoot, asking him questions that he barely hears. She’s here. She’s alive. She’s fine. He thinks of his first dream, of her dying in childbirth. He couldn’t help her, was helpless. Then, in the second dream, he was too late. Each time he lost her. In this life, right now, nothing is wrong at all.

“Mulder, why are you here?”

“I- I needed to see you.”

“Why? Is it a case?” She rubs her eyes, hiding another yawn behind her hand.

“Have you ever had nightmares that felt so real that you… that you had to make sure they weren’t?”

“Did you have a nightmare?” She asks him. “Was it about Samantha?”

“Why do you think- no, it wasn’t about Samantha.”

“Let’s sit down, Mulder,” Scully says with a sigh. “I’m still trying to wake up. Tell me what happened?”

“I’ve been having dreams,” Mulder begins, glancing at her. “Ever since the Ephesian case. About… I think I’ve been dreaming about my past lives.”

“Melissa Riedal,” Scully says. “You were dreaming about her.”

“No,” he says. “I’ve been dreaming about… you.”

“You said it was nightmares,” she says, her voice gentle. She puts a hand over his and he stares at it for a moment, relishing her touch. “Do you want to talk about them?” When he lifts his eyes to hers, he can see that she wants to know. But she doesn’t know what he’s seen.

“Mulder, they’re just dreams,” she assures him. “They’re not real. No matter what happened in them, it’s not real.”

“But that’s just it, Scully. It was real.”

“What are you trying to say?” She squeezes his hand.

“I believe that they weren’t just dreams. I think that- whatever my relationship with Melissa Riedal was in this life or any other, pales in comparison to what we have in every life. But that’s not why I’m here, or why I had to see you.”

“What did you see?”

“You didn’t have any dreams?” Mulder asks instead, not wanting to put her through what he’s experienced. Her screaming. The pain she must have endured.

“No,” she says softly, giving him a smile. “I can take it, Mulder. Just tell me. You were spooked enough to come here in the middle of the night.”

“Well, I am Spooky Mulder, aren’t I?”

“Mulder,” she warns. “I want to know.” He nods, preparing himself. He puts his other hand over their entwined ones, needing to feel her warmth and strength.

“Tonight was the first time that I woke up from my dreams. Maybe we were happy in all those other lives,” he says. “In my first dream, you were… you were in labor. You were screaming. You were screaming so much, Scully. There was blood, but… there was no baby. They couldn’t get to the baby. The doctor – I think it was the doctor – said you were going to die.” He hears her gasp and he looks at her. There are tears in her eyes and when one falls, he wipes it away.

“I’m sorry,” he says. “I shouldn’t have-”

“Mulder, I’m not crying for me. Or whatever version of me that you think you saw in your dream. I’m crying because you had to experience that. What was the second dream?”

“I don’t- I don’t really know. I was in an apartment. I think it was the 1940s. Maybe it was wartime. I don’t know. I found you- there was a room and you were in it, but you were, um. You were…” He can no longer stop his own tears from falling. He hears Scully whisper something and then she wraps her arms around him, holding him close. His tears land on her shoulder where her pajama top has slipped out of position. She cradles his head, her fingers in his hair.

“It’s okay,” she whispers with a kiss to his temple. “It was just a dream, okay? I’m here, aren’t I?” He nods against her shoulder, taking in her sleepy scent, her Scullyness. She’s real. This is not a dream and he’s holding her. But what if this life ends like all the others? With him unable to save her? With him always being too late?

“Your nightmares are not reality. We don’t know what the future will bring, but I’m here, right? Look at me.” He lifts her head and they’re close together. Her face is devoid of make-up, making her look impossibly young. He can see her beauty mark that she always covers up. But he knows her secret. He touches it softly, letting his finger drift lower to her lips. She lets him touch her, watching his every move.

“You see? I’m real.”

“You shouldn’t cover this up, Scully. You’re beautiful.”

“Thank you,” she says. “Are you feeling better now?” He thinks about it for a moment and then he nods.

“Good. Do you think you can sleep some more?” She asks and he tenses. “I’m not sending you home. You can stay here, but I’m just so tired,” she admits with a shy smile.

“You sleep,” he says.

“What about you?” She yawns and gets comfortable right there with him on the couch, snuggling into his side.

“I’m perfectly fine.”

“Just another hour or so,” she says. “If you have another nightmare,” she says, turning to give him a sleepy look. “You can wake me.”

He knows he won’t sleep, but he nods anyway.

“Sweet dreams, Scully.” She smiles at him before she closes her eyes. Mulder holds her in his arms, content to feel her solid against her. He doesn’t need to dream when she’s right here with him.

[lifewithaview]

The X Files (1993-2018)The Field Where I Died

When authorities receive a telephone tip from someone named Sydney, the FBI and ATF stage a raid at Temple of the Seven Stars, a religious cult the anonymous caller says is abusing children and has a cache of firearms. Mulder feels that he's been there before and has a powerful sense of deja vu. They arrest the cult leader Vernon Ephesian and several of his followers including one of his wives, Melissa Rydell Ephesian. They don't find the arms cache however and Assistant Director Skinner thinks they have less than a day to get some hard evidence or they will all be released. Melissa seems to be suffering from multiple personality disorder and has a personality known as Sydney, the person who made the call. In fact she has several personalities including a Southern belle who tells Mulder they were there for a Civil War battle. Mulder thinks she's recounting a past life.

[truthsaved-a]

mulder falls  ‘ in love ’  very easily.   i thought there was a term for this kind of behavior but unfortunately google didn’t reveal much other than stockholm or hero complex but it’s not really those.  this love is not really the same kind of love that one might expect such as how he loves scully or any other romantic partner.   but he falls in love with people involved in cases really easily.   or it seems that way to me.   some examples are like in s3 ep8  oubliette,   mulder feels very deeply for lucy householder,   a woman who had been kidnapped when she was a girl and escaped from the kidnapper,  who was now attached to his latest victim by feeling things that the kidnapper was doing to the young girl in the basement.   and even shown signs of suffering the same abuses like having been beaten up or dehydration,  etc.  mulder was extremely caring and gentle towards her the whole case long despite the other officer’s suspicions of her because of her troubled past due to the trauma of being abducted.   she’d been in and out of homes that assist those with addictions.   mulder is almost always the first to believe in nearly whatever the case is about,   so everyone thought it may be mulder just being mulder,   but his theory about lucy appeared to be true.   so,   when lucy ultimately succumbed to her injuries and mulder cried by her side like he’d known her his whole life,   that was truly the first time i’d noticed this.   

then in s4 ep5  the field where i died  with a woman named melissa riedal-ephesian,   mulder felt some kind of connection with her immediately.   so,  both he and the woman underwent regression hypnosis therapy.   they both believed they were married in a past life.   there were pictures of a man and woman who looked distantly like this melissa and mulder.   and since i haven’t watched the episode as recently,   i can’t remember as much but i just feel like mulder fell in love that easily.   

then in the episode i just watched,  s5 ep16  mind’s eye  with a woman named marty glenn,  who was blind,  experiences visions that prove to be from the eyes of the man who was her father.   the man who had also murdered her mother when marty was still in the womb and thus she had barely survived being born.   this marty was witness, through visions to other dealings of her criminal father that included two murders, which she confessed to as it was easier to explain than what was really occurring.   mulder saw through the act immediately and knew she was innocent.   he admits,  at one point,   to liking marty and not wanting to see her go through this.   as well as when he visits her in prison, after she finally murders her father for for all of the things he’s made her see,   mulder holds her hands through the bars and they share a moment.  

idk what all of this says other than mulder evidence to me that he was starved of love when he was younger.   he is so desperate to give of the love that overflows in his heart.   sometimes that shows in this weird way of becoming far too attached to the people that he helps on a case.  

[siamkram]

So what did the Druids know? Bees have long been considered divine messengers from the gods. And until quite recently in the Highlands and Islands, people thought that, when in sleep, trance or death, the soul left the body in the form of a bee – a belief that has clear druidic origins. Druids were trained in the art of the ‘soul-flight,’ by which they could journey to the Otherworld for knowledge from the spirits. They would probably have endorsed the tenet beloved of the mystery schools of the Near East: Si sapis, sis apis! – If you would be wise, be a bee!

Perhaps they also carried forth the tradition of the Great Goddess, for bees, whose lives are organised entirely around a single queen, have been sacred to the Divine Feminine for thousands of years, in ancient civilizations from Babylon to Rome. Bees were revered for their ability to pollinate flowers and crops, increasing the abundance of the Earth. The cultivation of honey was regarded as a sacred charge carried out with great reverence and ritual for it was seen as a precious gift from the Mother herself.

In the classical world, priestesses of many aspects of the Divine Feminine, including Rhea, Cybele and Demeter, were called ‘melissae’, which means ‘honey-bees’, for they served the Goddess as Queen Bee. At the Ephesian temple of Artemis, the melissae were accompanied by castrated priests who represented male bees or drones. Aphrodite’s shrine on Mount Eryx was shaped like a honeycomb, considered by the Pythagoreans to be a symbol of her qualities of love and harmony, because of its perfect hexagonal shape.

Source: http://chalicecentre.net/blog/what-the-druids-knew/

[pjstafford]

Unrest, child hood trauma and past lives. A review of Unruhe and Field Where I die. Blog 32 of The Disability in The World of the X-Files Series.

Following Home, The X- Files goes through a series of episodes which either barely references disability or relies on themes so familiar as to be almost unforgettable.

In Teliko, which is a variation of the earlier better episode Squeeze, a monster/man is killing men through robbing them of their melatonin but, except for a mention of albinoism, there is little discussion that would render this an episode in which disability is a concern.

In Sanguinarium, there is a brief mention of pica which is a disabling condition, but again as a throw away line.

In Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man there is the word paranoid or paranoia thrown around.

This leaves us to discuss Uruhe and Fields Where I Die.

Uruhe which is a German word for unrest is mostly an uninteresting episode precisely because it relies on tropes for its horrors and does not focus enough on the explanation or development of the more interesting paranormal psychic photography. The trope of Scully being in danger is done less well than in previous episodes. The fact that the killer (Jerry)believes in “howlers” which he describes as voices in your head might had been interesting but, again, was not given focus or development. Neither was the killer’s PTSD about whatever unnamed things his father had done to his sister. The interesting aspect, for the purposes of this blog, is the manner in which Jerry presents his illness when confronted with a reminder that he had beaten his father. He says, as a defense, that he was not jailed but hospitalized because he had a “sort of chemical unbalance.” It is interesting that he sees this as being persuasive that he cannot be a suspect in the abduction and murder of young women who, it turns out, he is killing to rid them of the same unrest his sister had before she committed suicide. There is much that could have been unpacked here about the correlation between the chemical imbalance of schizophrenia and the impact of early childhood trauma, but that is not this episode. Instead they relied on the fact that a man previously hospitalized, who seemed polite and well manner, was on a killing spree. Ho-hum, seen it before. Even Scully’s closing remarks in her field report about “to pursue monsters we must understand them” seems familiar. It is a less compelling variation of Mulder’s voice over in Grotesque. The summary for this episode could be that the mentally ill are scary and women often need rescuing.

As all the other episodes mentioned in this specific blog entry are lackadaisical and worn, Fields where I die is beautiful in its cinematography, musical score, and subject matter. Many fans hate it for a variety of reasons including that it strongly suggests that Mulder’s romantic soul mate is not Scully. Disability as a focus is strong in this episiode as an alternate theory. Does Sarah/Melissa have disassociative disorder, popularly called multiple personalities, or has past lifes surfaced to guard her from harm? The storyline seems to come down on past lifes but not definitively which we will discuss later. In this episode disassociative personality disorder is treated respectfully in tone and manner. Perhaps this is because it is an alternate to the more dominant theory in this episode of past lifes and so limited time is spent on it. They quote from the DSMIV and from legal precedent allowing personalities to be considered reliable witnesses. Considering how disassociative disorders are frequently portrayed in television/movies, this medical/scientific focus is refreshing.

An interesting aspect is that Melissa does not believe in her past lives despite belonging to a church which does believe in reincarnation. The charismatic church leader believes in past Iives and resurrection, without knowing about Melissa’s past lives, and believe that he has lived before and, yet, is seen as being insane for those beliefs. Mulder believes that Melissa and him have lived lifes together before, but doesn’t believe the church leader. Scully is given a brilliant line: “And why is it that Vernon Ephesian is, reported by you, a paranoid sociopath because he believes that he lived in Greece a hundred years ago, and you're not, even though you believe you died in that field?” This issue is never fully resolved. The end of the episode is very emotional with Mulder unable to convince Melissa to stay alive in this life and finding her dead in a house near where he had died in a field in a previous life.

This disability specific watch, though, has made me rethink this episode. This blog series has made me very aware that Mulder’s mental health has been brought into question repeatedly. Initially, the question of are people who believe in alien abduction crazy was a central theme of the series. Mulder would say, in relationship to that, “I’m not crazy, Scully.” In season three and four, the show has transcended that question and we the viewer know that, in the X-files universe aliens exist. There are a few episodes, though, that imply that Mulder’s obsessive behavior and life choices might mean he is more on the borderline of mental illness. There will be future episodes and references that seem to imply that he might have mental illness. So now I arrive at this episode with a different awareness and cannot so easily dismiss Scully’s line. It is possible that Mulder past life regression was flawed. Scully, I believe, could make this case and that Mulder was easily fooled by his desire to believe, his empathy for the other, and a mental health lapse in judgement. The line again: And why is it that Vernon Ephesian is, reported by you, a paranoid sociopath because he believes that he lived in Greece a hundred years ago, and you're not, even though you believe you died in that field?

[admiralty-xfd]

I’m very interested in MSR dynamics when a possible Mulder/other hovers (threatens) in the background. Although that’s a recent thing for me ushered in by your excellently conceived and written The Whole Truth. Given how Mulder was, do you think Melissa Ephesian’s survival would have caused as much problems between M and S as Diana’s return did? Is this something you think you would like to write about at length? Or do you have 5 headcanons about TFWID, especially Mulder and soulmates.

Thank you for reading TWT and for the compliment!

I’m too lazy to break this into five headcanons so I’m just gong to give you my entire TFWID headcanon. Here goes.

I actually don’t believe Melissa was a romantic threat to MSR. Mostly because Mulder and Scully weren’t romantic at that point, at least as far as we’d been shown, but also because I believe Mulder was far more enamored with the idea of past lives being real rather than Melissa specifically. I, as well as every other person probably reading this, also refuse to believe he has any other romantic soulmate than Scully, at least in this life. More likely, as the episode portrays, he, and all of us, have many “soulmates” that play different roles to us in different lifetimes.

We all love the romantic aspect of MSR, but I always argue that’s just one facet of their relationship. They are so many things to each other besides romantic. They are friends, confidants, partners, intellectual equals, sources of comfort and support. All of the things. And the idea that they were all of these things to each other in past lives, in my mind, only strengthens their 1997 bond.

My interpretation of this episode is that the people we meet in our lives all come back as our “soulmates,” constantly, in different roles. What Melissa says in her regression (“We have come together in this life, in this time, only to meet in passing”) is key. Mulder’s purpose for meeting her in THIS life is to save all of those people.

Mulder is very receptive to hypnosis, as we already know, so it’s completely possible the past-life regression wouldn’t have worked on a nonbeliever. Out of the (presumably) hundreds of past lives Mulder has lived, in his regression he only goes to two. He and Melissa happened to be lovers in two of those lifetimes, but certainly not in this one (as time will bear out, that particular role in this lifetime is Scully) and who’s to say that was the case in every other lifetime? 

He says during his hypnosis Samantha was his son. The CSM is there, as well. In one life, Scully was his father. In another life, she was his sergeant. In this current life, they are partners, friends (at this point.) But he also says the purpose of these reincarnations is to learn. After he says Scully is dead in the street, he then says: “He[Scully]’s gone on now, waiting for us... the souls come back together, different, but always together... again and again... to learn." Past Scully has gone on to the next lifetime waiting, waiting for him, until they learn what their souls want them to learn.

Fox Mulder is a romantic. Not in the widely accepted definition of the term, as he rarely is with any term, but he feels things. He has a feeling about the bunker. He has a feeling about Melissa from the moment he meets her. He feels that he’s responsible for every life in that temple because of this connection he shares with Melissa, even though Scully doesn’t think he should feel responsible.

Melissa, in response to his theory, tears up the picture of her past life. She doesn’t believe him and it disappoints him, not only because he’s Mulder and the idea of this being possible amazes him, but because he needs her to help him save those lives. 

He's so upset throughout the episode at everyone’s refusal to believe: Skinner, Melissa, the other agents, especially Scully. 

“You saw it, you heard it, why can’t you feel it?”

Their fight in the car is a rare thing to witness, and it still makes me uncomfortable when I watch it. Mulder gets frustrated with Scully frequently, but here he is lashing out. He feels responsible for saving those people and her inability to open her eyes to this possibility is slowing down their progress.

Ultimately he fails to save anyone because no one (including Melissa) believes him. At the end, when he comes across the group of lifeless bodies, he finds Melissa holding the torn picture (a symbol of her lack of belief) and cries because he failed. He’s Mulder, he believed where no one else did, and because they didn’t believe, he failed. 

Some people think he’s crying because of Melissa specifically, because he “loves” her, but how could he? He doesn’t even know her. It’s like in Oubliette when he cried over Lucy, he’s crying because of what she represents: his failure. Like he believes he failed Melissa and everyone else. Like he believes he failed Samantha.

In any event, the scene where he questions Scully about all of it, she tells him none of it even matters because “[she] wouldn’t change a day.” They are exactly where they’re meant to be. Scully isn’t one to easily believe all of this past lives nonsense, but she does believe in Mulder. At the end of the day, that’s what matters to them both.

Anyway, all of this is to say that I don’t think Mulder had romantic feelings for Melissa at all. I think he had romantic feelings for the idea of past lives, though.

Thanks for the ask! :)

[dailyaudiobible]

11/03/2019 DAB Transcript

Ezekiel 7:1-9:11, Hebrews 5:1-14, Psalms 105:1-15, Proverbs 26:28

Today is the 3rd day of November. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It's great to be here with you today as we launch into the first full week of the 11th month of this year and daylight savings time. So, hopefully your clocks are changed. This is the time of year that is not my favorite because of that time change because it starts getting dark so early. And by the time Christmas comes around it’ll be getting dark at 430 in the afternoon here in Tennessee, but this is where we are in our year, and we’ll just continue our journey forward day-by-day. We’ll read from the Contemporary English Version this week and continuing in the book of Ezekiel. We’ll read chapters 7, 8, and 9 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for bringing us into the 11th month of this year. And as we…as we begin the first full week of this month, we are again thankful. We look back and we see all that You have spoken to us over these last days and weeks and months and we feel the transformation happening because of it. And, so, we worship You here in the beginning of this month and we invite Your Holy Spirit into everything that we will do, everything will say, everything we will think, all of the encounters that we will have this month, all the people that we we’ll engage with, that aren’t even on our radar at this point. May they see Jesus in us. May we reveal Your kingdom in all that we are. Come Holy Spirit into this we ask. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, its for sure where you find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to stay connected as we move ourselves into this 11th month of the year.

So, we had to change our clocks, right? Daylight savings time. And that just makes…like one of my least favorite parts of the year because here in the rolling hills of Tennessee, where we sit is very very near the time zone line, so it starts getting dark early. Tonight, it will be probably pitch dark by 5pm and by Christmas by 430. So, not my not my very favorite, but we…we adjust to these rhythms and I guess this is where we are in the year and we’ll continue to move forward together.

And speaking of moving forward together, if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. I humbly, deeply, gratefully thank you. We wouldn't be here if we weren't in this together. So, I thank you profoundly for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app there's a Give button in the upper right hand corner or the mailing address, if that is your preference, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill, Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if  you have a prayer request or comment you can press the Hotline button that's in the app, the little red button at the very very top of the app screen or there are a number of numbers, phone numbers that you can use depending on where you are in the world. In the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number to call. If you are in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 and if you are in Australia or that part of the world 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to call.

And that is it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello this makes the third time I’ve called in and I’m calling in out of desperation and I don’t mean to be selfish. This is Mark from Columbus. You know I called in last week. I ended up in the hospital last week really kind of fearful because today and yesterday I’ve…I’ve bounced and I’ve never called…I’ve never come to…I felt worse today then yesterday the I did when I came…then I did when I came to the hospital. And __ is serious business, I guess. But I need the prayers of you DAB…of the DABber family. I need the closeness, I need their warmth, their compassion, I need the love that…that…that comes from you guys. I need…I need that closeness. And I just pray Lord that…that these prayers, that goes up to heaven would be…results in God’s will being done in my life, whatever it may be…whatever that may be. And I want to thank you guys for your love. I thank God for his unconditional love, mercy, and grace. I just pray that you guys would lift up my needs…

Hi family this is Cherry from Southern California, haven’t called in a few months but today I was listening to the prayer requests and I heard Shannon from Aberdeen South Dakota and she was calling, and I could just hear just the sadness and just the distraught-ness in her voice. And Shannon I just want to let you know that, you know, we are gonna be praying for you and the Scripture that came to mind when you __ your prayer request was that, you know, God did not come to condemn us, He came to save us and it’s not about being perfect, you know, because we’re emotional people as well but we’re also spiritual. And God says that, you know, when we accept Him, we are a new creature in Him. But it doesn’t mean that we’re not gonna falter. It doesn’t mean that we’re not gonna, you know, sometimes, you know, lose our anger and so forth. And you were talking about your son and…and…all of the disrespect, and you arguing with him, and, you know, you kinda of started arguing, you yelling at your two younger children. We all have done things like that but the one thing we have to remember is God is not condemning us. And, so, don’t condemn yourself. Just pick yourself up and say, “you know what, I’m gonna hold God’s hand and I’m gonna keep marching on. I’m not gonna despair. I gonna put everything in God’s unchanging hand and His ability to be the impossible, His ability to do miracles in our lives.” So, Shannon I’m gonna be praying for you, praying for your son as well to just, you know, remember who God said that He could, I think it’s in Ephesians where when we honor our parents, you know, our days will be long in life. It’s like the first…it’s the first promise in the word of God. So, I’m gonna be praying a blessing over his life and your life and your family’s life. So just keep your faith. Hold onto Jesus Christ Shannon.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible. This is Jason from Baton Rouge. This is my second time calling in. I called in a few days ago, maybe two days ago with a prayer request. And today I heard Melissa’s prayer on the audio and man my heart goes out to her. You know, she connected with her birth father but she mentioned her struggles with the adrenal gland and I just wanted to pray for her because I also only have one adrenal gland remaining. Mine was removed just like hers from a tumor three years ago and the Lord is sustaining me. It is challenging but the Lord will bring life. So, I just want to lift you up Melissa and give speak life right now. In Jesus’ name I speak life and full health to Your remaining right adrenal gland. May it fully come to life. May You not need the steroid hormones anymore. In Jesus’ name I just speak complete healing and complete restoration to Your body, to Your mind, to Your soul, and to Your spirit in Jesus’ name. I thank You Father for Your amazing grace and the fact that You have restored her  to her birth Father and that You’re restoring all things and that this restoration to her birth Father is simply a foreshadowing of the restoration that You are doing in her body and her adrenal gland in Jesus’ name we pray. Thank You, Father. God bless you Melissa.

Hi family this is Kim the pediatrician from Eastern Kentucky and I’m traveling today and I just left Lexington and that made me think of Christie from Kentucky and then I think there’s been another sister from Lexington area that has called in. And I’m currently in Chicago and that made me think of Asia from Chicago whose called in. And I’m heading to Denver and that made me think of Cara who just called in a few days ago requesting prayer for her boyfriend who says he knows Jesus but by his actions I don’t think he really knows him as Lord. And, so, I’m praying for him and I’m just thinking of you all as I’m traveling all over the United States and in those cities. And I’m headed to see my birth mother who I haven’t seen in about 10 years in Mountavista Colorado. And I just want to pour in Jesus to her. She’s 82 years old and our relationship is different, but God knows. I have a Reframe to give her and I’m just asking for your all’s prayers. God is before me, God is with me, and God is my rearguard and I’m thinking of what Peter and John said to the lame man - silver and gold have I none but such as I have I give unto the, in the name of Jesus. So, I just want to give her Jesus. And you all are such good prayer warriors surrounding people in that. I love you all. Blessings family. Bye.

Hey Marla in Albuquerque I hear you sister. Gosh, a few weeks, maybe several weeks back, you mentioned that you have a hard time with judging others, and you see that, and you repented of that but it’s a difficult issue. I have the same issue. I’m older, my name is Seeker of northern California and as I get older, I think I get tireder. I get…think we get tireder…and we don’t want to deal with baloney because were just tired but I think the biggest thing is if we pray and we watch our behaviors cause I noticed if I keep my behavior honorable then eventually my attitude swings around more to what is honorable and is right and is following Jesus. So, I’m…I’m been praying for you Miss Marla of Albuquerque and I continue to please ask for prayers for my daughter who’s the law enforcement officer who left her husband of 14 years. They have a four-year-old son and I just ask for prayers that there is healing and restoration. I…I…our heart is broken because of that. This is Seeker of northern California. I love you all Daily Audio Bible peeps love you. Pray when I hear the prayers. Love you. Bye.

[phillmatic365]

Information Is 365 #HipHop365 NEW @tissueinthetape Podcast Episode 219 and The Heat Holderz brought backup,. Our Hampton Family, Silas Grant kicked with us. We talked,  new fatherhood The Information Age -tease DC politics, culture and sports (even Dallas Cowboys talk) plus . . . _-_Most Beautifullest (we got the funk so come on down) - The best thing that we have seen since our last live show image.jpeg 2:31 Tyra Banks talks new 'SI' cover _-_Tit for Tat (pound for pound, toe to toe, blow for blow, round for round) - Just my thoughts, right or wrong whatever I was feelin' at the time _-_Dream or Nightmare for Steve Harvey: replaced as host of NBC's Little Big Shots after his daytime show got cancelled (hold up wait a minute) Steve Harvey on Losing His Talk Show: 'I've Got 3 More' Melissa McCarthy replaces Steve "I really believe God can do anything. I ask God for OUTRAGEOUS things. I live by Ephesians 3:20, the book of Deuteronomy and so many others. You can't out-faith me, you can't out-believe me. My faith doesn't waver. I wouldn't have made it this far without Bible scriptures." _-_Zion - beast or bust: poised to join Elton & Kyrie as the only Duke players to go #1 overall in the NBA Draft Is the NBA draft lotto rigged? _-_Heat Check (they hotheads and the bullets iz heat seeking) - Phil mentions new music from Diamond D & Maryland's own Logic w/RJ Payne & King Shampz update. Killa Cal - Let's Go Champ _-_Heat Check (they hotheads and the bullets iz heat seeking) Chelly The MC - Northeast Baby _-_Made You Look (now let's get it on all in perspective) Showtime's Of Mics and Men Netflix x Ava's When They See Us May 31 Netflix's Beats June 19 (Anthony Anderson & Uzo Aduba) Netflix's Wanda Sykes: Not Normal May 21 HBO's What's My Name - Muhammad Ali out tonight (Antoine Fuqua) ______________________🔥🔥🎙🔥🔥_______________________ #TissueInTheTapePodcast #theinformationage #washingtondc #Hampton #wizards #redskins #cowboys #HipHop #EverythingisHipHop #HipHop365 #RespectHeatHolderz 🔥 (at Washington, District of Columbia) https://www.instagram.com/p/BxvEpGLA4rE/?igshid=sd9p6prk67xi

[kjaneway115]

The X-Files: The Field Where I Died

4X05 The Field Where I Died

Mulder and Scully are part of the attempt to bring down a cult leader in Tennessee, but when they arrive, someone has tipped off the cult leader. Mulder’s intuition leads him out into a field, where he finds the cult leader and several women about to drink poison in a bunker.  M&S became involved because Ephesian, the cult leader, claimed that he was capable of astral projection.  The FBI thinks that Ephesian is storing weapons and wants to avoid another Waco.

M&S question one of Ephesian’s wives, Melissa, who seems to have multiple personality disorder.  Scully admits, “I’d have a hard time if my husband had so many children by other women.”  Ephesian believes in reincarnation.  Mulder thinks that her second personality, Sidney, is a past life.  “Somehow I just knew,” he says.  Mulder suggests to Skinner that they take Melissa back to the site of the crime to try to bring Sidney out.  Scully gets angry when Mulder doesn’t even tell Skinner what he really believes.  She tells him he’s only responsible for himself.  Skinner allows them to take Melissa back to the scene of the crime.  Melissa leads M&S out into the field.  Mulder hesitates.  Scully asks Mulder what’s wrong, but he only shakes his head.  Melissa goes back to another personality, during the Civil War, and speaks of her lover who died in that field.  Then Melissa tells Mulder that he was the one she watched die on that field in 1863.

Scully is upset with Mulder because she thinks he’s using Melissa to get to the truth, rather than being sympathetic to all that the woman has gone through. Just being married to Ephesian is already proof that Melissa is crazy, Scully says.  Mulder gets upset and asks Scully how he could have known about a bunker in a field he’s never been to before.  Scully asks why Ephesian is a sociopath for believing that he lived in Greece a hundred years ago, but Mulder isn’t for believing he died in that field.

In regression hypnosis, Melissa reveals some of the horrible things Ephesian has done to the children in the compound.  The Sidney personality comes out, but then Mulder talks.  Melissa tells Mulder that she misses him and that it is heartbreaking to wait.  Scully tells Mulder that this a product of Melissa’s illness. Mulder has his own regression hypnosis.  He goes back to a previous life in which he was a Jewish woman in Poland and had a son.  He says it is Samantha.  He sees his father dead in the street and says it is Scully.  He cries. A gestapo officer is the CSM.  “Evil returns as evil, but love, love, souls mate, eternal.”  His husband was taken away, Melissa.  Scully watches Mulder go through it, feeling his pain.  Then to the Civil War lifetime.  His sergeant is dead, Scully.  “Sarah Kavanaugh” holds him, she is Melissa.  His name is Sullivan Biddle.  He says she doesn’t know that he’s waiting for her, that they will live again.  Scully approaches Mulder and kneels before him, asking him to look for bunkers in the field.  He replies that his soul is tired.

Scully looks through the county records and finds Sarah Kavanaugh.  She finds photos of Sullivan Biddle and Sarah Kavanaugh.  Mulder asks Scully, calling her Dana, if someone had told them, early on, that they had been friends together in other lifetimes, always, would it have changed how they looked at each other. Scully says, “Even if I knew for certain, I wouldn’t change a day.”  Then she jokes that she could have lived without Flukeman.  Mulder smiles.

Mulder plays the regression hypnosis back for Melissa, she says she doesn’t believe it, but she wants to.  Mulder calls her Sarah and touches her hand.  She tears the picture of Sarah Kavanaugh in half and goes with Ephesian.  Scully has researched additional bunkers.  M&S fear that Ephesian will convince everyone in the cult to commit suicide.  The FBI starts to approach the cult but is shot at.  Mulder walks into the cult unarmed, his hands up.  Scully tells him no, “you’re dead.”  But when he arrives everyone inside has already drunk the poison, including Melissa, who died with the torn picture in her hand.  Mulder cries.  Scully arrives to see him over Melissa’s dead body.  Mulder stands in the field, staring at the pictures of Sullivan Biddle and Sarah Kavanaugh.

Original Airdate: November 3, 1996

Episode Tags: MOTW