to tell of Holiness B

Just as I was regarded as “the next in line,” I decided after an exhausting day in preparation for the ceremonial oath, I still had no inkling as to the ultimate result of this ceremony upon me.  Nothing seemed threatening.

I realized that the better I understood my family, the better I would serve the future.  Therefore, I set my powers of observation to work, learning all the prayers and actions of this initiation.  I found I grasped the prayers without too much difficulty.  Rather more rapidly than I expected in fact.  I was reaping the benefits of my training under Grandfather’s watchful eye.  How long he had waited for me to arrive.

Soon I understood the major energy thematic of any ceremony I happened to attend.  Granted, I could not have phrased a prayer of my own making yet.  There were still many words to be experienced.  Yet I would grow my skills in this way.  I elected to absorb.  This was greatly to my advantage in adding to my store of EarthWisdom.  My family, believing me to be totally all I needed to be, would rattle on in my presence… imprinting me.

I began to understand not only the prayers and actions of this initiation but the structure of sacred change.  As in my own experience, was being taught through stories.  My Grandfather, I discovered, was a VisionKeeper, and was one of the more respected HolyOnes.  His courage and integrity were above reproach.  Grandfather had four sons, and I was the youngest of 13 grandchildren.  The raising of one’s grandchildren, while not unheard of, was an ancient practice.

I became obsessed with the tracking of where items would go on this family created altar.  One of the pieces that always called to me was the snake clan bundle, which normally hung from deer antlers above my cot in the kitchen.  There were also other bundles of stones and herbs, for use in the various ceremonies Grandpa performed.  I was not surprised at all to learn there was one for each of the 7 Sisters.  Of course, it was again, the family.

I found the snake bundle, always handled with the utmost respect, quite powerful in my life.  I was already well aware of Kato’ya’s story, who bonded with Kaliña, the Sun Wolf, in a union which brought together the founding parents of our family.  My preoccupation with the bundle fanned the flames of my ceremonial passion.  The bundle was apparently a conveyor of healing, its ability to rearticulate the molecular was well known.

On this day, three men arrived with a sick woman.  They had come, it appeared, solely for the purpose of having Grandfather heal the young woman.  I watched from a distance as they talked to my cousins.  Apparently, it was agreed on, and the woman was brought to our house, to lay on the deer skin that Grandfather had painted the Snake Clan tablet of healing on.

This healing interested me immensely.  The girl was very still. Although obviously not feeling well, she walked proudly with what strength she had, demonstrating a nobility that I found admirable.  I realized that she, like I, had experienced great trauma.  I relived a progression of nightmares that had begun playing out in actual life, sending me into days of stillness.

The girl was being treated by my Grandfather and a couple of other Healers who had come for the Initiation.  That was apparent, even when observed from a distance.  She was scanned with Grandfather’s Seer Stones.  She allowed this to happen.  She sat proudly as he looked into her eyes and chanted, and even when he smoked her with the ceremonial natóh.

I benefited tremendously from observing this girl’s healing.  Her spirit was contagious, and I began walking a little taller.  A sick woman could be an example.  Should not I, reclaim my strength in a befitting manner?  My curiosity ultimately triumphed over my depression, and I would regain a determination.  Someday, no matter how long, I would come to understand and use my experiences to help others, the Community of the Heart I would co-create with.

It became apparent that any such thoughts must be postponed, however.  Dances the Dream smudged.  I gathered that the girl’s healing would be incorporated into our Initiation.  I had seen this before with my family, how the immediate needs were interwoven into the healing powers of the ceremonies.  Black Coyote lit the ceremonial fire.

Still, it was probably one of the most significant attributes of this family, the spontaneous interweaving.  There was always an overlay of need and purpose that brought us all together.

I was in line to enter the circle.  As we entered, we were smudged and asked three questions…

From the Bear came, “Who are you?” I started to wonder, as I saw the questions answered from phrases out of the 1st Prayer of Life.

For as many days as I had been in this physical lifetime, I had heard this prayer anywhere from once to an uncountable number of times a day.  “I have come from the Earth Mother.  I have come from the Sky Father.  I have come into this Circle to be all that I can be.  I am All My Relations.  This is my prayer, and I am grateful.  And so, it is…”

A break was taken after we had all entered the Circle and been led to our seats.  I slid around on my blanket looking for my sweet spot… where the Earth would support my body… it was a sensation.  Once the spot was found I could sit still, unnoticed, for prolonged periods of time.  Ah, to be a snake!  Only one solar cycle since that day, which seemed to be coming up a lot in this Initiation, I had learned to look through the senses of my reptile guardian.  I learned to be invisible with the stillness.

After making sure of my ceremonial space, I closed my eyes.  I listened now to the sounds between sacred acts, how even the mundane was threaded into the tapestry.  I had established the rhythm of chaos when a soft voice rippled the flow.  It was lilting and different, yet most familiar.

“The trail of the tlish diyan comes from Sky Father.  Earth Mother is within,” came the melodious feminine tone.  “May all of us that gather to perpetuate this ritual of initiation never forget this that binds All Our Relations together as One…”

I opened my eyes to see Little Star speaking the ancient words.

I sighed deeply and settled deeper into my spot.  Now, I watched, the fire at first.  Seated there, only a few feet away was Dances the Dream, the man who had smudged ceremony as we entered.

“Will you help these that are beginning the Path of Beauty?” he called to Sun Wolf and those being initiated as Keepers of Life soon.  And together they responded, “Yes.”

The wind calls.  All will change.  A breeze blew.  I saw the Elders’ Council.  My Grandfather was there, as a tlish diyan da’igoti.  This meant “Tracker”.  “I share the teachings of Mokesh as my personal medicine.”

Voices began responding to the questions.  I spoke under my breath the words that Sun Wolf repeated.

“Are they going to share the Creation Story next?”

“I know that Dances the Dream is supposed to act it out for us.  It’s his storyteller initiation.”

The voices trailed off into a musical hum, and as the story began, Dances the Dream seemed only to be softly singing.  Nearby, I watched.

The telling of the first moment came easy that night.  My mind was filled to overflowing with thoughts of what was before all of this.  We had created time, to learn about pain and then to remember who we truly were.  My main feeling was happiness.
 
What an amazing story, to discover our purpose.  One that appeared highly evolved, entrusted, and most of all, one that was the most exquisite moment of all.  How appropriate to begin our training as generations before us had, to dream reality into being.
 
On the cliff rim above us a coyote called to his love, and I, hearing, almost was exultant.  Our clan Mother was still with us.  Good things were sure to result from the day’s events.