We are the Protectors of the Water
This morning I watched a beautiful video explaining that the women of the Standing Rock Sioux are the keepers of the water and so they are not “protestors”, but “protectors”. As I watch this “standing up” for the water happening in the Dakotas I am particularly engaged because, a year or two ago, as I wrote the Earth Woman Tree Woman Quartet, it became clear to me that one of the main characters, Yameno, a native Uhsean (Are you wondering who the country of Uhs might be?) would have to be the protector of the sacred waters and lead the indigenous people from all over the earth to save the waters.
I don’t feel like some of these ideas (in the book) or even some of the writing really comes from me, but through me. Of course, the idea of the indigenous people being the protectors of the water has been around for a long time and certainly my understanding of that was in my brain cells somewhere. But still, I love the way different ways of thinking or acting seem to emerge from many points on the planet at the same time. We are emerging, growing, changing, becoming more one with the earth, with each other, with the Dance of Life – in Earth Woman Tree Woman called the Tsin Twei.
The humans in the book take on other forms when they visit Ninas Twei, the land of the Dance of Life. Some take on the form of animals, others, mythological characters. Yameno becomes a wolf.
A quote from the fourth book:
“Water,” cried Tata. “Yameno Wellkeeper, the tree must have water.”
“We are coming,” called Yameno, and the Tree Woman gripped his back as he leapt into the air.
I am the wild, the freeborn, earth traveler!
My soul singing touches the moon and the sun.
I am the herald, the seeker, the messenger.
I bear the song for those seeking the One.
I am the hunter, the knower, the lover.
My voice like a spear pierces deep in the night.
I am the lone, the many, the mirror.
My call is like lightning, jagged and bright!
Out of the mists came hundreds of wolves and cougars, swans, coyotes, squirrels, snakes, elk, and eagles, surrounding the Wolf and the Earth Woman Tree Woman.
We are the wild, the wild,
freeborn, earth travelers –
soul singing, earth travelers –
touching the moon and the sun.
We are the commune, the sharers,
the lovers,
joining together, ever seeking the One.
It’s his nation, Tree Woman realized, the people of his village who have come here countless times over the years. And more… The sound of a thousand drumming circles throbbed through the air as Yameno sang – the indigenous peoples woven into the land of the Americas and all the lands of the earth, drumming and chanting, their feet pounding the ground. Hi, ya! Hi, ya! they called.