Mother Tree: Tales from The Dark Forest - Prayer Shawl
It is in the in-between of each direction that much is illuminated. Such was the case for Bows Her Head, a medicine woman from the Northern tribes of the land of the Dark Forest.
Bows Her Head was a medicine gatherer and medicine maker. She had trained under many other medicine woman from her tribe, and the tribes of others. Spending years of her life searching for the flowers, leaves, and roots of plants for medicine, she bowed her head to the Earth Mother and the Plant Nations daily. Having spent years of her life collecting fibers and plant dyes, she bowed her head to her Ancestors for their wisdom teachings. In her later years, she spent most of the light hours of the daytime bowing her head to her weaving, where she honored the Spirits.
Because Bows Her Head had spent her life with her eyes keenly honed downwards, she had the most beautiful dyes and the finest threads. Her fiber work was known across all of the tribes as superior craftsmanship. No matter where you walked on the Dark Forest’s land, the people of the tribes would say, “I bow my head to Bows Her Head, for you can see the work of the Creator of the Universe in her work.” And the people of the Nations believed that her work should be named sacred work, because each piece of work she had created came with many blessings. Although she was not a Shaman and did not speak and bargain with the Spirits, her medicine was strong, and recognizable. In fact, for many generations after her Earth Walk, people still spoke of her work and held it precious.
It was a time of great strife and warring among Nations far beyond the Dark Forest when Bows Her Head walked the Earth collecting medicine and weaving. Two leggeds from the East came with new spices to trade with the two leggeds from the West. And although the Dark Forest offered much protection to its two legged nation, the ripple of war from the Forgotten Animals touched the Dark Forest’s Nations in mysterious ways.
Whispers spread through the Dark Forest of the two leggeds who killed and ate each other’s souls to enslave other two leggeds spirits’ in both life and the afterlife. Tales of their brutality washed over the Nations of two leggeds, plants, animals, and the Spirits of the Land. There were gatherings of all nations to discuss these new events and what, if anything, could be done about it.
During this time, Grandmother Tree was still a young Mother Tree, learning from her own Grandmothers, and silently holding memories for the future generations. When the whispers reached her Grandmother, she knew that soon the Nations of the Dark Forest would gather at their roots and ask them to share their wisdom. And so it was that they came, and the Grandmother Tree spoke:
“Children of the Dark Forest,” she said, “these beings are the Forgotten Animal Nations who our Dark Winter Spirits, the Cold Icy Wind Beings, The Falling Snow People, and the Silence have driven away from our Nations for many centuries. These animals seek to conquer and enslave each other for the knowledge, skills, and gifts that Earth Mother and the Creator of the Universe bestowed upon their two legged children. They also seek the power of our Spirits, which they then teach do not exist or are evil. They can only see our outside forms as resources which they use to hold power and status over each other. This is not the way of our Forest, as you know, where we follow direct guidance from the Earth Mother and the Creator of the Universe in the ways of the knowledge and faith in Everlasting Life. These forgotten animals have chosen to forget themselves, the Earth Mother, the Spirits, and the Creator of the Universe. They wield a magic of their tongue, and create Spirits from their own voices which they use to control each other’s minds. They come with false tales of the Creator of the Universe as a way to subjugate each other for gains of power. They will not last long here in our Dark Forest. But we must be cautious, for they will come to take of the Dark Forest, and to harm the Nations we call sacred. While they are here, we must send our Spirits to roam the vastness of our Nation and seek out the healers, prophets, and shamans who listen to the voices of the Earth Mother and the Creator of the Universe, so as to keep their knowledge and gifts hidden. Who should we send?”
The Animals, Plants, Stone People, and Spirits of the Land bowed their heads to the Earth Mother and said, “Mother, you are more wise than all of us, we pray to you to speak to us of whom we should send to protect your children.” And they raised their heads high to the Sky Beings and said “Sky People, Flyers who watch over us below, pray with us now to the Creator of the Universe, that we may be illuminated on who we shall send to the vastness of the Nations to protect our Children.”
When the prayer was done, they rested together at the base of the Grandmother and Mother Tree, and many tears were shed, because the Dark Forest could feel the pain of the forgotten animals’ slaves, and they could feel the sorrow of the Earth Mother.
They awoke to the sound of the Eagle’s cry: the Creator of the Universe was sending its fastest and most powerful emissary to consult with them. As he arrived, so too did the Hawk, also calling out to the Dark Forest to awaken. The Eagle landed upon a low branch of the Grandmother Tree, so that all could see his massive stature and glory, feel the wind which came off his wingspan, and behold his large sharp talons, his pointed beak, the shine of his eye. And the Nations admired the grandeur of this emissary of the Creator of the Universe. Hawk brother perched on a high branch of the Mother Tree, so that the Nations could see how far his vision of the Nations spanned, and his closeness to the Sky Beings and Creator of the Universe.
“We have come,” said the Eagle, “To travel the vastness of this landscape and bring medicines and knowledge to the medicine people, the prophets, and the shamans of this land. We will sit here until the Moon is full, and then travel again, following the path that the Earth Mother has set out for us. While we are here, we will dream for the two leggeds we hold sacred to this Forest. While we are here, we will gather medicines and visions for them in this time when the Forgotten Animal Nation dares to travel upon our sacred ground.”
When the moon was full and brightest in the sky, the Eagle and Hawk departed, going separate ways through the skies far above the Dark Forest. Hawk traveled to the East. There he saw visions of new Spirits and Gods which the spice traders worshipped. He watched the two leggeds from high above as they worked their rituals, ground their spices, wove their threads, and painted images of their Spirits and Gods. And since the Hawk is very patient in his ways, he watched and listened until he could see who among them would have ancestors that were of the Dark Forest. When he knew whose ancestors would be the prophets, medicine people, and shamans of his land, he sent the Ravens to quietly gather their medicine while they slept. Bit by bit they collected pieces of string, beads, faceted stones, roots, spices, dyes, and papers with faces of their Spirits and Gods dressed in ways unseen by the Dark Forest. Brother Hawk then flew to the Mother Tree with his bundle of Raven Medicine and waited for the Eagle to arrive.
Soon brother Eagle came, carrying a similar bundle from the West. His wings and talons much stronger, the bundle was significantly larger. When he perched on the Grandmother Tree, her branch bowed to the ground. Then Eagle and Hawk heard the Earth Mother speak: “You will bring the Grandmother Tree Bundle, and the Mother Tree Bundle to the woman the two leggeds call Bows Her Head.” The Creator of the Universe put her image in the eye of the Hawk and the eye of the Eagle, and sent a crow to guide them to her small hut in the Northern most region of the vastness of the Dark Forest.
You may think that because Bows Her Head spent her life looking down to listen to the Earth Mother, that she would not have seen the emissaries of the Dark Forest coming with their bundles. But it was because her head was bowed that the Creator of the Universe could place a vision of the coming medicine directly into her head. As she worked on her weaving one day, she was overcome by the knowledge of Everlasting Life, and the vision of the medicine she was to create for her people suffering in fear and sorrow from the whisperings of pestilence of war upon their land. This vision was a direct understanding that the items necessary for the creation would come from Spirit itself, and that if she only waited, and continued in her work, that the medicine would arrive.
One day when she had finished with all her work, she sat down to begin a new weaving. It was on this day that Bows Her Head became Looks to Heaven, for just as she was about to begin, she heard a sound unlike anything she had ever heard before. Suddenly every animal of the forest began to sing, the birds flew from their nests and danced in the sky above her hut. All of the two leggeds came out of their shelters to see, fearing that it meant war was upon them. But their spirits soon changed from fear to awe and wonder, as they saw one crow leading an Eagle, carrying a massive bundle in its talons. They could feel the power of the wind from his wings upon their faces, and the vibration of the air in the depths of their hearts. Behind his shadow they saw Hawk Brother dancing on the sunlight, crying out to announce that the Creator of the Universe had sent them. The villagers could see that these emissaries of the Creator were headed straight for Bows Her Head’s shelter, and they all ran to see what their medicine woman was being gifted at such a time of strife and grieving.
They watched as the crow came to land at her feet, dropping a small piece of shiny stone. She smiled and picked it up, its radiance guiding her eyes up, up, up, until she saw the massive silhouette of the Eagle block out the sun, and descend along with Hawk Brother and the medicine bundles. The villagers gathered at her hut to help her bring the bundles into her home, and offered food and water to Eagle and Hawk to revive their bodies from the long travel.
Together, the two leggeds of her village helped Looks to Heaven organize and understand each gift that had been brought, for many of them had more knowledge of the Forgotten Animals’ ways than their elderly medicine woman. She took the talismans of the West and East, and placed them on her shelter’s walls. She took the pictures of their Gods, and sat with them daily to listen to them speak. Soon, her shelter became full of Spirits from all corners of the world, who advised her in the ways of the world, and their medicine. They told her that it was time for her to create the vision that the Creator of the Universe had given when she was Bows Her Head.
She bowed her head again, working her weaving, listening to the new spirits as they guided her every movement and choice in the work. When she was too tired, her eyes too weary, her back too bent, the Spirits would animate her form to help her finish the task, giving her energy and strength. And so although Bows Her Head was a weakened old woman, Looks to Heaven was the strongest and healthiest person in the two legged’s village.
When her work was complete, she gathered the village elders to her hut and showed them the items from the East and West, the images of the Gods of the Forgotten Animal beings, and the weaving that the Creator of the Universe had instructed her to make. The Elders received a great healing of mind, body, and spirit, when they entered her shelter and looked upon her face, which was looking towards heaven itself. The oldest of them, Names Our Children, was overcome by the voice of the Creator of the Universe, and said: “Looks to Heaven, you must place this shawl you have created upon your own shoulders, for it is you who was Bows Her Head. You listened to the Earth Mother, and prayed to the Creator of the Universe every moment of every day of your life in the simple work you did for your family and village. Although you have been a medicine woman, you are now a prophet and a shaman as well. Take this medicine that the Dark Forest has provided you, and teach your people of what you have learned about the enemy that is coming. With each moment of your life, and in the work I sent you to do, you prayed for peace. So take this Prayer Shawl, and embody my vision for you Nation.”
Looks to Heaven did exactly as Names Our Children had said, as she could hear the voice of the Creator of the Universe through her elder. She made many more Prayer Shawls for the women of her village, and taught them the medicine woman ways. From far and wide came people of the vastness of the Dark Forest Nations, to sit and learn her ways, returning to their own people with this medicine. In this way, the Dark Forest’s medicine spread to every corner of its vastness. And when the warring tribes of the Forgotten Animals came to the dark and silent villages of each nation, they saw no people there to enslave. Their own medicine covered the villagers in warmth and illusion, and the hawks and eagles warned them of the approaching enemies. Seeing their very own Gods and talismans in the shelters of the villagers, who had seemingly vanished, gave the warring animals a deep sense of fear and foreboding. In this fear, they quickly left. This happened in every village of the Dark Forest which the Forgotten Animals visited along their journey of conquest.
And when their conquests had ended, and the few who survived the ordeals returned to their countries of origin, they told tales of the Land of Spirits and Ghosts, a haunted Dark Forest where no two legged or Forgotten Animal lived, ruled by the Spirits and Gods that they themselves worshipped. It became taboo in their cultures to speak of this land, let alone visit it. In this way, the Dark Forest protected all its Nations from the Evil intentions of the Forgotten Animal Nations, by using the very fear that they wielded against each other.
- Little Thunder (Antonina Whaples) 2/3/2021
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