Tag Archives: millennium

The Storytellers

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Storytellers are very important to a culture that has no written language or any means whatsoever of recording their history or the information that has to be handed down from one generation to another. Which is why in every culture on earth, whether it be a human one like we live in, or a wet one like exists in the ocean or an animal one that lives on the land, or a much, much older one such as the one the earth and the stones and the trees have, has a storyteller. The information it takes to be a successful species has to be passed a long. That’s where storytellers come into play.

While walking by these two storytellers in the forest a few days ago I heard them explaining to this young sapling about the role she had to play as she grew up and took her rightful place in the forest. Everyone in Nature has their place and a job to do. The Earth of course stays firmly underfoot and it is the force that gives purpose to all the other things in life. The other elements such as the wind, sun, water, all have their parts to play but each individual has their responsibilities to perform as well.

And as in all cultures the young have questions about those things. They also have a lot of fear. Fear of the unknown. And a lot is unknown. The two storytellers above have been telling these stories for millennium. The one on the left with the long druid-like countenance is the most versed in the why of things, the broad overview of what our purpose is here. While the shorter, rounder one is an earth mother and she has all the practical facts of life that the younger ones need to know.

Procreation is always the single largest topic on the young ones minds and it is always the scariest to ask about. That’s why so many come to the storytellers to find out these things, you can’t ask your mother, you just can’t. How embarrassing would that be. And the other saplings are asking you about them so there’s no help there. No, the storytellers are the ones to come to.

I couldn’t hear much of the conversation as the storytellers speak in a very low voice, so low sometimes that we can’t hear it at all. The sound travels through the ground to the saplings roots like whale song through the ocean which is why there is a such a surprised look on her face. I did hear the words, gymnosperms, and male and female gametophytes and the release of large amounts of pollen, which is when the saplings branches flew up in embarrassment and her leaves flushed a pale shade of yellow.

It was at this point that I moved along as the conversation was getting to a very delicate stage and I did not want to add to the saplings awkward self-consciousness. I was just glad that the storytellers were there to help this generation of trees learn what they needed to know. Even in this day of information overload and unlimited knowledge storytellers are important.

 

The Gathering

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It is a time of the Gathering, where once a millennium a very important meeting takes place. It is a time when the tribes come together and receive the wisdom of the ages once more. The People of the Stone who have nearly forgotten the Rules of Living arrive and begin to form the circles in preparation for the moment of receiving. They are here because they need their wisdom to be reawakened and replenished. They are ancient, and just as the wind and rain erodes their bodies, so too, do their memories erode. Slipping away on the wind, slowly dropping off of their shoulders as grains of sand, shards of their lives left to litter the ground they stand on.

They have come from all over their land, slowly marching in, timing their arrival to be there before the Flare erupts. The elders both male and female form the center circle, their glow slightly lower as their time begins to wane. As a sign of the people’s respect they stand in front of the warriors and their women, who burning brightly, are already anxious to assume their new roles as leaders of the people. Behind them are the latecomers who have had the farthest to travel, but bring the same bright burning glow that is the desire to be reborn in the light of the new cycle.

As they gather they are waiting for the moment when they have collected enough of them so that the heat of their remaining knowledge forms an inner glow. The glow they form, in all its intensity, will summon the light of the ages and infuse them with all the wisdom and knowledge that has been accumulated over millions of years.  When the Moment of Enlightenment occurs, they are reborn. Their memories are sharpened, they are renewed and can return to their own lands and live their lives again until summoned to the next meeting.

This happens on time scale so vast that the only way we humans know it is going on is by seeing the occasional bit of sand sift down to the floor they stand on. Or see them gradually but ever so slowly, emerge from the cliffs and canyons they live in. Some call this erosion but if you look closely you will see that it is the arrival of another person. If we’re fortunate we get the smallest glimpse of the oncoming burst of light that is the Flare as the sun rises each morning and begins to pick up the glow of the elders, highlighting them for the briefest of moments. If this is what the beginning of the flare is like, it is doubtful any of us could with stand the event itself. But there are some who would dare.

Note: To see the assemblage of the People of the Stone go to Bryce Canyon National Park and attend the meeting any morning as the sun comes up. You won’t see the Flare but you might see the briefest glimpse of what it will be like.