March 28, 2021

The Light Of Ancient Wisdom

The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood,
and so it is in everything where power moves.
Our teepees were round like the nests of birds,
and these were always set in a circle, the nation’s hoop,
a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit
meant for us to hatch our children.
Black Elk, Oglala Sioux Holy Man

From the year we lived in a tipi, the story most people remember is the time Dennis woke up one morning with a slug in his hair. However the stories we hold of that time living on the land and in the round are of gratitude and awakening. I know I would not be on this path of spirit had we not had that year. We loved it. And we learned a lot, including the very soggy lesson of why it was the plains people who lived in tipis and not the northwest coastal tribes. Silly white people. This photo was taken before the top half of the tipi turned brown from the smoke of the fire and the bottom half turned green from sitting in a rainforest environment. While we didn’t hatch any children, we did hatch a new world view.

We lived in the tipi for a year while we built our house and lived the next seven years without electricity or running water. We lived in tune with the seasons and cycles of the Earth and Sun and Moon as our ancestors did. We lived in relationship with the land. Although we would spend many years commuting to the city to run a business, we are now back and forty five years later are still in relationship with this amazing landscape and its natural rhythms. 

Is it necessary to step away from technology and modern conveniences to be in this relationship? I know it worked for us. I know that those of us who live in what we like to name an advanced and modern culture are now running so fast and are so disconnected from the natural world that the Earth is suffering. And her suffering is growing exponentially, seemingly in proportion to the rate at which we are running headlong into a technological future. 

What I also know is that we are creative people. We can choose a different path forward. We can choose to find a way to live round.

Beannacht,
Judith – judith@stonefires.com