This morning I am continuing to write the story of how the human community came to live sustainably on the Earth by the year 3000. As I imagined what this might be like, I decided that we as a species discovered other ways of communicating with all the life around us, much as the shamans of many indigenous cultures. I also tried to put into historical perspective what animals might think about us, the two-leggeds.
The first chapter introduces the major characters in the book. So far, the reader has met Fran and Ridley from Alice Springs, Australia; Bidrha from the Gobi desert; Wangari from the African savannah; Yareen, a jaguar in the Sierra Madre, in Sonora, Mexico; the Elder, an old sycamore tree on the Lower Colorado river in the Sonoran desert, and now, Shira, an elephant on the African savannah.
This part of my book describes an actual event that occured in Erwin, Tennessee. I carry some baggage about it, as my Uncle was the man who was charged with carrying out the unbelieveable act described below. I only recently learned about it, and as a person who cares deeply about all forms of life, it made a deep impression on me. I decided to create a story where I can somehow resolve the generational guilt I feel about the hanging of a circus elephant named Mad Mary.
For those of you who are reading the sequel, I am bringing in the savannah in Africa, for which Wangari is a representative to the Federated Deserts Annual Meeting. Contiguous ecosystems are also present at these meetings since ecosystems blend into each other and each system's health is linked to the other's.
Chapter 1 Part Four
"She had a great memory, as all her line. A shutter rippled along her bulging, grey flank hanging in folds from her great age. In her blood line was one who suffered greatly, one whose grizzly death left an indelible scar on all her clan. Mad Mary's death by hanging in the verdant hills of Tennessee, a world away from her native savannah, was the lowest of the low in the two-legged - elephant relationship.
Driven mad from years in two-bit circus tents, poor diet, abuse, and utter loneliness, Shira's ancient relative died in agony as mountain men hoisted her scarred body on a railroad trestle and literally squeezed the last breath from her until she was released from hell on Earth.
That memory, and others like it from places where her clan members had been imprisoned, was passed to each new baby as a marker. She found these stories surreal and inconceivable in the present day cohabitation with humans. Both two-leggeds and Thunderers roamed the grasslands in peaceful cooperation. The yellow sea of grasses flourished with their presense. Her clan ate down the trees and shrubs that invaded the open savannah, and their waste nourished the soil. The Thunderers presence in the savannah helped to maintain its integrity. The two-leggeds came to learn.
Like all Earth's Children the act of remembering the Dark Ages was cultivated as part of one's duty to the Mother Earth and all life present - that never again should any of her creatures act with such disdain for any other life. Shira's clan mothers taught her about The Changes, when men and women among the two-leggeds began to understand the Great Law.
Shira rubbed against the massive flank of Sidah, her eldest son who was munching on the succulent leaves of an acacia tree. He wrapped his trunk gently around her head in a sweet embrace. Nearby Sidah's great love, the winsome Radha, nestled their new born underneath her smooth belly where the little one sucked hungrily from her full breast.
Shira looked out over the great clan happily grazing on the small trees and bushes along the edge of the African savannah. For as long as she remembered, the family was growing in numbers. The gentle two-leggeds of her day were welcome among them - they were called "Addah". They were the youngest among the earth's clans, God's most recent creation.
When the Addah came to the Thunderers, they humbly recognized the clan's great knowledge and historical memory, passed generation to generation. Just as the adults among the clan shaped their youngsters' character by teaching them the Life Protocol for all living beings on Earth, so now Addah came to learn from them. The clan of Thunderers moved slowly about the great savannah, stretching unencumbered for thousands of miles in every direction. Addah followed the Thundrerers on their daily saunters prompted wholly by whim, which the two-leggeds enjoyed immensely.
The great clan of Thunderers communicated by touch and passing of thoughts through the energy streams that surround all of Life in the universe. The Addah were learning to do this, too, but still created many varied sounds and sang and chattered like the three-leggeds that swung happily in trees along the tall forest's edge. Sidha has seen these furry, aerial acrobats when she was but a youngster. They delighted her as she stood and trumpeted their wild flings high above the forest floor. Imagine! God of Earth created such marvelous cousins. All of her life, Sidha experienced joy and wonderment, fulfilling the great Mother's wish for her living children, large and small.
Startled from her musings, Shira's grandbaby was nuzzling her old wrinkled tummy. She chuckled to herself and softly rumbled to the littlest clan member, caressing him with her soft pink nose. The baby smelled of new life - that sweet mother's-milk-aroma that made her at once a fierce protector and a gentle nurturerer. This was the Mother's gift of female-kind's duality, an image of the Mother 's own true nature.
A low rumbling passed like a wave among the males, alerting the clan's attention as an acrid odor of lion washed across the grassland. Tawny forms were visible only as undulations on a canvas of golden grass, occasionally broken by the penetrating dark of an eye. A reverberating roar spilled over the plain. The males trumpeted in return, acknowledging that all is well between these clans linked by the waving, golden sea.
The two-leggeds moved into the middle of the herd with the youngsters, walking in safety among their giant friends. Herds of the Hooved-Ones galloped in dark shadows in the tall grass. Like waves they adjusted their locations, ever alert to the muscled predators of their world.
In the year 3000 the savannah stretched across the horizon, its life forms richly woven into its interior. The Addah no longer dominated the community but were a small, integral part of it. Life flourished."
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Dwellers at the Threshold -Three
"Ofelia and Bidrha chatted about news from home as they walked down the mountainside to a natural clearing where about 50 women sat under the canopy of small oaks. Their colorful apparel representing each desert homeland tradition, dappled the soft brown canvas of the desert.
Something about women's voices at a distance, thought Bidhra... like tinkling bells.
Wangari rose from her seat, a broad grin speading over her round face.
"Bidhra!" she sang forth, moving jauntily across the circle to engulf her tiny friend in the folds of her ample body. Everyone chuckled at the site.
"Wangari, I can't breathe!" Wangari let her go with a loud laugh and slid her arm around Bidrha's small shoulders.
"I've got this one taken care of," Wangari declared over her shoulder to Ofelia, as she led Bidhra to a table laden with food and beverages.
Ofelia heard the drumming and singing start up, and turned to greet another arrival.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nearby the gathering of women...
They lined the great river like tall guardians with thick intertwined arms. Their jigsaw patterned trunks of bronze, moss green, aqua blue, and soft yellow blended with the muted colors of the earth. Only the rushing red waters of the river demarked a border.
These were the titans connecting earth with sky, channeling life giving waters from under earth's skin up into the air above. Among them stood an Elder - a tree so broad and tall its roots caused the Earth to rise and curve with them, drawing water along their inclination.
Below the earth, unseen by human eye, roots met a tiny crawling army of yellow, gooey creatures - a living mat as vast as the forest itself. Upon this undulating sea of microbial life, the words of the Elder to members of the clan ran back and forth in a chemical language. Trees in need of nutrients were fed from areas of the forest rich in the needed elements. And so, did the Elder tend its tribe.
The Elder was a clan leader of great stature. From this old waterway, the Elder protected her clan and reported to the two-leggeds on all its living inhabitants, the featherd, furred, scaled and spineless members of the community. The Union of All Species felt the Mother Earth's heartbeat, checked her circulation an cleansing systems. Through the global leaders in each biome of life - an interspecies alliance - the Earth flourished and all therein, a part of Her living, breathing, changing body, hurtling through space together in God's vast kingdom.
Life on Earth reached a high level of consciousness when the two-leggeds gained new self-understanding and raised their conscience to that of all the plant and animal species. Their evolution was still young among Earth's species, but they were finally coming along. Their numbers decreased, and their violent past faded from memory.
Today's humans were finally of the indigenous mind: humble members of a colorful community of living beings whose very lives depended upon the health and well-being of their Mother.
They were ready. Soon the return of the Great Ones would come again upon the Earth."
Something about women's voices at a distance, thought Bidhra... like tinkling bells.
Wangari rose from her seat, a broad grin speading over her round face.
"Bidhra!" she sang forth, moving jauntily across the circle to engulf her tiny friend in the folds of her ample body. Everyone chuckled at the site.
"Wangari, I can't breathe!" Wangari let her go with a loud laugh and slid her arm around Bidrha's small shoulders.
"I've got this one taken care of," Wangari declared over her shoulder to Ofelia, as she led Bidhra to a table laden with food and beverages.
Ofelia heard the drumming and singing start up, and turned to greet another arrival.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nearby the gathering of women...
They lined the great river like tall guardians with thick intertwined arms. Their jigsaw patterned trunks of bronze, moss green, aqua blue, and soft yellow blended with the muted colors of the earth. Only the rushing red waters of the river demarked a border.
These were the titans connecting earth with sky, channeling life giving waters from under earth's skin up into the air above. Among them stood an Elder - a tree so broad and tall its roots caused the Earth to rise and curve with them, drawing water along their inclination.
Below the earth, unseen by human eye, roots met a tiny crawling army of yellow, gooey creatures - a living mat as vast as the forest itself. Upon this undulating sea of microbial life, the words of the Elder to members of the clan ran back and forth in a chemical language. Trees in need of nutrients were fed from areas of the forest rich in the needed elements. And so, did the Elder tend its tribe.
The Elder was a clan leader of great stature. From this old waterway, the Elder protected her clan and reported to the two-leggeds on all its living inhabitants, the featherd, furred, scaled and spineless members of the community. The Union of All Species felt the Mother Earth's heartbeat, checked her circulation an cleansing systems. Through the global leaders in each biome of life - an interspecies alliance - the Earth flourished and all therein, a part of Her living, breathing, changing body, hurtling through space together in God's vast kingdom.
Life on Earth reached a high level of consciousness when the two-leggeds gained new self-understanding and raised their conscience to that of all the plant and animal species. Their evolution was still young among Earth's species, but they were finally coming along. Their numbers decreased, and their violent past faded from memory.
Today's humans were finally of the indigenous mind: humble members of a colorful community of living beings whose very lives depended upon the health and well-being of their Mother.
They were ready. Soon the return of the Great Ones would come again upon the Earth."
Friday, December 09, 2005
Dwellers at the Threshold continued....
If you are reading my blog, you may recall that the first chapter of my new novel began with Fran and Ridley who live in Alice Springs, Australia. It is the year 3,000. Across the Earth a smaller human population is organized in federated govenments by biomes.
The world's human community has learned the value of earthkeeping. Each biome (desert, tropical forest, temperate forest, savannah, deciduous forests, tundra, etc.) has governments linked across the world according to the distinctive plants communities, weather and topography that define these ecosystems. Fran is getting ready to join fellow desert leaders at their annual meeting in southern Arizona in the Sonoran Desert.
In this part of the chapter, readers begin to learn that animals and plants are important partners with humans in monitoring the health of the earth. During the milennium after the great earth changes, humans began to communicate with trees, plants, and animals, rediscovering the ancient wisdom of earth's first people: all life has consciousness. Here we are introduced to one animal who will help Fran and her fellow delegates understand the state of the Sonoran desert in what was once called Mexico.
Chapter 1 continued...
"Across the world, Yareen made her way down a jagged escarpment on the Sierra Madre plateau. Her ebony and tawny flanks rippled with reflected sunlight through the pale green of manzanita and scrub oak. Falling pebbles pushed from their earthen beds by her great paws scattered noisily down the slope ahead of her.
Her mate roused from an afternoon nap in the tree high above her. He greeted her with a low rolling hello as she bound up the tree in which he lay. Yareen rubbed her head against his and breathed in his pungent scent, her golden eyes wide open with their reunion. They had been together for many sunrises and sunsets. Soon he would leave her and she would return to a solitary life and the birth of their cubs. It would be her second pregnancy.
They made their way to a pool of water in the bowl of the river for a swim, catching what fish or turtles that swam by. As they lingered by the water's edge, a trembling deer stood immobilized in the brush, caught unaware by their silent arrival. His breath was barely discernable. Later on the pair left the water's edge together and he could breath again. The great cats were more numerous as was so much of the community of wildlife.
On the other side of the world, in the ancient walls of a city long ago destroyed, Bidrha sat down upon a sacred spot where Earth's energy was strong - one of many energy grids discovered by Earth's people after the Great Conflagration and subsequent Age of Awakening.
Bidhra focused on her journey from the high plateau, ringed by mountains. Her breathing slowed and began its deep, pendalur rhythm. She could feel her body transfiguring into wave form. Her vision lifted suddenly. She was above the plains of the Gobi desert, now flying over the Himalayas, gaining velocity as her material form released to pure energy. Crossing the great blue ocean she winged through white clouds beneath a dome of azure sky. At a certain point her decent began by predetermined intent, tumbling energy down, down to a peak she could see now, on a mountain range bordering a city by a river that poured red on a southward race to a blue green ocean.
As she descended, her form began its rematerialization. She felt the tug of Earth, of mass - her body form so heavy now. When Bidhra opened her eyes she was greeted by a ring of elders drumming and singing her welcome, creating a space of positive energy, and blessing her arrival.
A woman of awesome stature, like a great tree, stepped forward to take her hand.
"Welcome, Bidhra, welcome to our homelands." Bidhra bowed her head and clasped her hands together, pulling them slowly below her chin as was the custom in her home.
"Do you need water. How do you feel?" Ofelia asked.
Bidrha felt a little unsteady. "I think I could use a little food to anchor my body to the Earth!"
Ofelia chuckled, "Come on, we have a feast going with the new arrivals. About half of us are here."
End of Section in Chapter 1: Dewellers at the Threshold.
Be well my friends! Let me know what you think about the story so far!
Susan
The world's human community has learned the value of earthkeeping. Each biome (desert, tropical forest, temperate forest, savannah, deciduous forests, tundra, etc.) has governments linked across the world according to the distinctive plants communities, weather and topography that define these ecosystems. Fran is getting ready to join fellow desert leaders at their annual meeting in southern Arizona in the Sonoran Desert.
In this part of the chapter, readers begin to learn that animals and plants are important partners with humans in monitoring the health of the earth. During the milennium after the great earth changes, humans began to communicate with trees, plants, and animals, rediscovering the ancient wisdom of earth's first people: all life has consciousness. Here we are introduced to one animal who will help Fran and her fellow delegates understand the state of the Sonoran desert in what was once called Mexico.
Chapter 1 continued...
"Across the world, Yareen made her way down a jagged escarpment on the Sierra Madre plateau. Her ebony and tawny flanks rippled with reflected sunlight through the pale green of manzanita and scrub oak. Falling pebbles pushed from their earthen beds by her great paws scattered noisily down the slope ahead of her.
Her mate roused from an afternoon nap in the tree high above her. He greeted her with a low rolling hello as she bound up the tree in which he lay. Yareen rubbed her head against his and breathed in his pungent scent, her golden eyes wide open with their reunion. They had been together for many sunrises and sunsets. Soon he would leave her and she would return to a solitary life and the birth of their cubs. It would be her second pregnancy.
They made their way to a pool of water in the bowl of the river for a swim, catching what fish or turtles that swam by. As they lingered by the water's edge, a trembling deer stood immobilized in the brush, caught unaware by their silent arrival. His breath was barely discernable. Later on the pair left the water's edge together and he could breath again. The great cats were more numerous as was so much of the community of wildlife.
On the other side of the world, in the ancient walls of a city long ago destroyed, Bidrha sat down upon a sacred spot where Earth's energy was strong - one of many energy grids discovered by Earth's people after the Great Conflagration and subsequent Age of Awakening.
Bidhra focused on her journey from the high plateau, ringed by mountains. Her breathing slowed and began its deep, pendalur rhythm. She could feel her body transfiguring into wave form. Her vision lifted suddenly. She was above the plains of the Gobi desert, now flying over the Himalayas, gaining velocity as her material form released to pure energy. Crossing the great blue ocean she winged through white clouds beneath a dome of azure sky. At a certain point her decent began by predetermined intent, tumbling energy down, down to a peak she could see now, on a mountain range bordering a city by a river that poured red on a southward race to a blue green ocean.
As she descended, her form began its rematerialization. She felt the tug of Earth, of mass - her body form so heavy now. When Bidhra opened her eyes she was greeted by a ring of elders drumming and singing her welcome, creating a space of positive energy, and blessing her arrival.
A woman of awesome stature, like a great tree, stepped forward to take her hand.
"Welcome, Bidhra, welcome to our homelands." Bidhra bowed her head and clasped her hands together, pulling them slowly below her chin as was the custom in her home.
"Do you need water. How do you feel?" Ofelia asked.
Bidrha felt a little unsteady. "I think I could use a little food to anchor my body to the Earth!"
Ofelia chuckled, "Come on, we have a feast going with the new arrivals. About half of us are here."
End of Section in Chapter 1: Dewellers at the Threshold.
Be well my friends! Let me know what you think about the story so far!
Susan
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